Politics
Iran: International trade unions mobilise to free jailed workers
Rome, 4 March (AKI) - Trade unions around the world are organising a global day of action on Thursday to express solidarity with jailed Iranian workers Mansour Osanloo [photo] and Mahmoud Salehi and call for their immediate and unconditional release.
"The campaign has been deliberately timed to take place ahead of the Iranian New Year on 21 March. Trade unionists have been released at this time of year in the past," a senior official from the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), Mac Urata, told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Urata is spearheading an international campaign to free Osanloo and Salehi, both of whom have been in prison in Iran since last year and have health problems.
Urata is inland transport secretary to the ITF, which has five million members worldwide.
The ITF and the ITUC - the world's biggest trade union federation - is organising Thursday's global day of action taking place in over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North America.
In January-February 2006, mass arrests followed protests by more than 1,000 trade unionists and sympathisers in Tehran over Osanloo's incarceration. "By the Iranian New Year, all had been released except Mansour," said Urata.
The Iranian authorities often release a number of low-risk prisoners around the Iranian New Year as a goodwill gesture, and Urata said it is hoped Osanloo and Salehi, both of whose health has deteriorated behind bars, may be freed this month.
The global day of action involves a series of protests staged by hundreds of thousands of union members across 36 countries, with more on the way, demonstrating outside Iranian embassies, petitioning their governments, distributing posters, leaflets and badges to raise public awareness, and a letter-writing campaign.
Osanloo, founder and head of the Tehran Bus Workers' Union, was arrested last July and is currently serving a five-year jailterm in Tehran's notorious Evin prison after being charged with "endangering state security" and "anti-regime propaganda".
Osanloo, who has been denied medical treatment in jail, developed cataracts during his incarceration and was only operated on after a massive international campaign. He has been arrested and imprisoned several times by the Iranian authorities for his attempts to improve the pay and conditions for impoverished bus workers in Iran, who are typically paid just 150 dollars a month.
Witnesses said Osanloo was badly beaten up after being dragged off a bus, bundled into a car and arrested in Tehran last July, soon after he had returned from a series of meetings in Europe with fellow trade unionists.
Salehi, who has spent a total 7 years in jail in Iran, began serving a one-year prison sentence on 9 April, 2007, in the city of Sanandaj in northwestern Iran, after being convicted of "conspiring to commit crimes against national security".
Salehi's health is reported to be deteriorating and he may not be receiving adequate medical care, according to human rights campaign group, Amnesty International.
Salehi has only one kidney, and is reported to suffer from kidney stones, heart and intestinal problems. He was reportedly transferred briefly to hospital unconscious after repeatedly collapsing in prison. A brain scan revealed that the blood vessels in his brain have been damaged.
A request by Salehi's doctor last May that he receive specialist treatment outside the hospital was ignored, Amnesty says. He has been denied visits from his lawyer and family, which has also been unable to contact him by phone. He was arrested in 2004 after distributing leaflets at a peaceful demonstration to celebrate May Day.
A sentence passed on Salehi of five years in prison and three in internal exile in the city of Gorveh, Kurdistan, was overturned on appeal. A four-year jailterm handed to him after a retrial was reduced on 11 March last year to one year's imprisonment, and a three-year suspended prison sentence.
Salehi, founded a baker's union in Iranian Kurdistan and at the time of his arrest, was trying to set up Iran's first national bakers' union. He is also the spokesperson for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions.
Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, independent trade unions have been disbanded and replaced with official organisations, the Workers House and the Islamic Labour Council, Urata told AKI.
"These organisations are supposed to look after the interests of workers, but in reality, they don't. There's always a double standard in Iran," he noted.
After industrial action by bus workers in January 2006, scores were suspended and they and their families have been facing severe financial hardship as they are denied unemployment benefits and healthcare.
The union is not recognised by the Iranian authorities. Other bus workers still employed, who are union members have been repeatedly harassed by security officials and denied overtime and long service payments, according to Osanloo's deputy, Ebrahim Madadi, who has been sentenced to two years in jail.
Unions from Asia have been playing a important role in the campaign to secure Osanloo and Salehi's release, Urata said. "It's not a case where western trade unions are the driving force."
Urata visited Indonesia in December and showed the film Freedom Will Come - The Story of Mansour Osanloo to members of Indonesia's railway unions. "It got quite a strong reaction," Urata stated, adding that it has also been shown in Algeria and Tunisia.
"A lack of response from the Iranian government is one of the biggest problems," Urata said. "We have never been approached by anyone from the relevant offices of the Iranian authorities."
The coordinator of the Indonesian chapter of the ITF and the Indonesia Seafarer director, Hanafi Rustandi, visited Tehran last October in an attempt to intercede with the Iranian authorities on the two men's behalf.
The ITF-Indonesia also delivered a letter to Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in January, urging him to petition Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the case.
Not only trade unions have been involved in the campaign to free Osanloo and Saleh, however, Urata was at pains to note. "It's not just a trade union campaign. We've had a very good endorsement from Amnesty International, whose international secretariat is supporting the campaign."
"The role of the European Parliament has been quite instrumental. The parliament has been exerting influence, and last December met informally with trade unions during a visit to Iran," Urata added.
"The campaign has been deliberately timed to take place ahead of the Iranian New Year on 21 March. Trade unionists have been released at this time of year in the past," a senior official from the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), Mac Urata, told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Urata is spearheading an international campaign to free Osanloo and Salehi, both of whom have been in prison in Iran since last year and have health problems.
Urata is inland transport secretary to the ITF, which has five million members worldwide.
The ITF and the ITUC - the world's biggest trade union federation - is organising Thursday's global day of action taking place in over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North America.
In January-February 2006, mass arrests followed protests by more than 1,000 trade unionists and sympathisers in Tehran over Osanloo's incarceration. "By the Iranian New Year, all had been released except Mansour," said Urata.
The Iranian authorities often release a number of low-risk prisoners around the Iranian New Year as a goodwill gesture, and Urata said it is hoped Osanloo and Salehi, both of whose health has deteriorated behind bars, may be freed this month.
The global day of action involves a series of protests staged by hundreds of thousands of union members across 36 countries, with more on the way, demonstrating outside Iranian embassies, petitioning their governments, distributing posters, leaflets and badges to raise public awareness, and a letter-writing campaign.
Osanloo, founder and head of the Tehran Bus Workers' Union, was arrested last July and is currently serving a five-year jailterm in Tehran's notorious Evin prison after being charged with "endangering state security" and "anti-regime propaganda".
Osanloo, who has been denied medical treatment in jail, developed cataracts during his incarceration and was only operated on after a massive international campaign. He has been arrested and imprisoned several times by the Iranian authorities for his attempts to improve the pay and conditions for impoverished bus workers in Iran, who are typically paid just 150 dollars a month.
Witnesses said Osanloo was badly beaten up after being dragged off a bus, bundled into a car and arrested in Tehran last July, soon after he had returned from a series of meetings in Europe with fellow trade unionists.
Salehi, who has spent a total 7 years in jail in Iran, began serving a one-year prison sentence on 9 April, 2007, in the city of Sanandaj in northwestern Iran, after being convicted of "conspiring to commit crimes against national security".
Salehi's health is reported to be deteriorating and he may not be receiving adequate medical care, according to human rights campaign group, Amnesty International.
Salehi has only one kidney, and is reported to suffer from kidney stones, heart and intestinal problems. He was reportedly transferred briefly to hospital unconscious after repeatedly collapsing in prison. A brain scan revealed that the blood vessels in his brain have been damaged.
A request by Salehi's doctor last May that he receive specialist treatment outside the hospital was ignored, Amnesty says. He has been denied visits from his lawyer and family, which has also been unable to contact him by phone. He was arrested in 2004 after distributing leaflets at a peaceful demonstration to celebrate May Day.
A sentence passed on Salehi of five years in prison and three in internal exile in the city of Gorveh, Kurdistan, was overturned on appeal. A four-year jailterm handed to him after a retrial was reduced on 11 March last year to one year's imprisonment, and a three-year suspended prison sentence.
Salehi, founded a baker's union in Iranian Kurdistan and at the time of his arrest, was trying to set up Iran's first national bakers' union. He is also the spokesperson for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions.
Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, independent trade unions have been disbanded and replaced with official organisations, the Workers House and the Islamic Labour Council, Urata told AKI.
"These organisations are supposed to look after the interests of workers, but in reality, they don't. There's always a double standard in Iran," he noted.
After industrial action by bus workers in January 2006, scores were suspended and they and their families have been facing severe financial hardship as they are denied unemployment benefits and healthcare.
The union is not recognised by the Iranian authorities. Other bus workers still employed, who are union members have been repeatedly harassed by security officials and denied overtime and long service payments, according to Osanloo's deputy, Ebrahim Madadi, who has been sentenced to two years in jail.
Unions from Asia have been playing a important role in the campaign to secure Osanloo and Salehi's release, Urata said. "It's not a case where western trade unions are the driving force."
Urata visited Indonesia in December and showed the film Freedom Will Come - The Story of Mansour Osanloo to members of Indonesia's railway unions. "It got quite a strong reaction," Urata stated, adding that it has also been shown in Algeria and Tunisia.
"A lack of response from the Iranian government is one of the biggest problems," Urata said. "We have never been approached by anyone from the relevant offices of the Iranian authorities."
The coordinator of the Indonesian chapter of the ITF and the Indonesia Seafarer director, Hanafi Rustandi, visited Tehran last October in an attempt to intercede with the Iranian authorities on the two men's behalf.
The ITF-Indonesia also delivered a letter to Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in January, urging him to petition Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the case.
Not only trade unions have been involved in the campaign to free Osanloo and Saleh, however, Urata was at pains to note. "It's not just a trade union campaign. We've had a very good endorsement from Amnesty International, whose international secretariat is supporting the campaign."
"The role of the European Parliament has been quite instrumental. The parliament has been exerting influence, and last December met informally with trade unions during a visit to Iran," Urata added.
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