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Statement by Tehran bus workers’ syndicate on May Day crackdown and updates

This page might be updated as more confirmed updates are received. Over 40 people were arrested at the May Day rally in Tehran. Currently a number of arrestees have been released.  As of May 4, 2019, Five bus workers’ union members Reza Shahabi, Hassan Saeedi, Vahid Fereydouni, Naser Moharamzadeh, Seyed Rasoul Taleb Moghaddam, were still in detention among others.  New “national security” charges have been brought against Reza Shahabi and Hassan Saeidi, related to the peaceful May Day event. Other detainees might be facing charges as well. (Updated by IASWI)

Violent arrests of dozens of members of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran Bus Company (Vahed Sydicate) and student groups during a May Day rally

Members of Vahed Syndicate, Reza Shahabi, Hassan Saeedi, Vahid Fereydouni, Naser Moharamzadeh, Seyed Rasoul Taleb Moghaddam, Mohammad Ali Aslaghi and Asadollah Soleimani, and Ms. Farahnaz Shiri, are among the detainees.

Keyvan Samimi, from the Iranian Writers’ Association, and Kamyar Farkour, Mardas Taheri, Soleimani Nejad, Abbas Shams, Hadi Soleimani, Seyed Mehdi Azimi, Mahan Salehi, Ghasim Khaloui, Davoud Rafiei, Asadullah Soleimani are also among the detainees. Subsequent updates will be issued.

Today, from the very beginning of the May Day event in front of the Majles in Tehran, which was called by the Vahed Syndicate and supported by other independent labour and student organizations, the presence of police and plain-clothes agents was substantial. It was not half an hour after the workers’ and students’ protests gathered at the ceremony that the security and intelligence forces attacked the participants in the rally and violently assaulted a number of people. More twenty people have reportedly been arrested.

The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, strongly condemns the violent crackdown of May Day protesters by the security forces and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees. Workers have every right to gather on the occasion of the International Workers’ Day and other causes in order to have their voices and demands publically heard. The right to organize and the freedom of expression and association are our internationally recognized rights. The continued repression of workers in Iran and members of the Vahed Syndicate must stop. Vahed Syndicate urgently calls on our allies in the international labour movement and all defenders of workers’ rights around the world to send strong protest letters to the Iranian government demanding the unconditional release of all arrestees (see the addresses below).

Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company

Ordibehesht 11, 1398 (May 1, 2019)

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.vahedsyndica.com

Telegram: @vahedsyndica