Stop persecution of worker activists and political prisoners in Iran. Free them now!

The regime in Iran has again stepped up its persecution of worker activists – from more arrests to harassment of those already in jail and their families. These activists are in prison purely for their trade union activities. They must be freed immediately and unconditionally.

Reza Shahabi is a leader of the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs United Bus Company. He has been in prison for the past two and a half years. Shahabi suffers from a number of ailments, and since last week in protest against denial of proper medical care has begun a hunger strike and is also refusing medicines. There are now serious concerns for his health.

Five members of the workers’ organisation the Co-ordinating Committee to Help Set Up Labour Organisations have been arrested in the city of Bokan in the West of Iran. They are: Jamal Mina Shiri, Ebrahim Mostafa Poor, Ghasem Mostafa Poor, Hadi Tanomand and Mohammad Karimi. Their families, who have been protesting outside the Intelligence Ministry, have been told that the detained activists will remain in prison for another week.

Pedram Nassrollahi, a member of the Co-ordinating Committee to Help Set Up Labour Organisations, has had a third court hearing where his 19-month sentence has been confirmed. He has also been moved to solitary confinement and is currently incommunicado.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh is a labour and children’s rights activist and a member of the Follow-Up Committee to Set Up Free Labour Organisations. Ebrahimzadeh, who has already served half of a five-year sentence, has been moved to solitary confinement and is currently incommunicado.

  

According to the Follow-Up Committee to Set Up Free Labour Organisations, the children of jailed labour activist Mohammad Jarahi are being harassed as a way of exerting pressure on their father. Jarahi has already spent 15 months in prison, as part of a five-year sentence.

Ali Nejati, a leader of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Workers’ Union, and his wife Shahnaz Sogand are constantly being summoned and harassed.

In addition, Shahrokh Zamani, a member of the Follow-Up Committee to Set Up Free Labour Organisations, is serving an 11-year sentence; Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of the Teachers Trade Association, is serving a 6-year sentence; Abdolreza Ghanbari, a teacher activist, is on death row for taking part in an anti-government demonstration in December  2009; and numerous political dissidents are in prison for opposing the Islamic regime.  

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All jailed trade unionists and political prisoners must be freed immediately and unconditionally! Harassment of workers and their families must stop immediately! 

Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran

Shahla Daneshfar shahla_daneshfar@yahoo.com

Bahram Soroush bahram.soroush@gmail.com

free-them-now.blogspot.co.uk/

Iran: Worker campaigners start sit-in outside the National Assembly

Workers behind a petition protesting low pay and deterioration of the labour law today started a sit-in outside the National Assembly in the capital Tehran, according to the Free Union of Iranian Workers. The petition, which has been circulating across the industries in Iran since this summer, has so far attracted over 30,000 signatures. Prior to the start of the sit-in at 10am this morning local time, the co-ordinators of the campaign submitted a letter and the last 10,000 batch of the collected signatures to the Labour Ministry. The campaigners have said that if their calls for pay rise and the scrapping of the amendment to the labour law and other welfare demands go unheeded, they will call on other workers to join the sit-in protest.

Workers in protest outside the Islamic Assembly, Tehran, 18 December 2012. Banners, from right to left:  * One day’s MP’s expenses = one month’s workers’ pay. * 30,000 workers protest pay freeze and anti-labour amendments to the labour law. * Poverty line = $400/month, workers’ pay = $300/month

The full text of the petition is reprinted below.

Text of the petition

To: Minister for Labour, Welfare and Social Affairs

Copy to: Members of the Islamic Assembly and the Office of the President

As we all know, since a year and a half ago with the introduction of phase 1 of the plan to eliminate subsidies, there has been a several-fold increase in the price of basic household goods. At the same time, the average pay of workers, compared to the years before the introduction of phase 1 of the plan, has even dropped. In addition, with the levying of, first, a 4%, and then a 5% value added tax on consumer goods, in effect 5% of the daily pay of workers, this being already below the poverty line, has been siphoned off to the Treasury. Meanwhile, delays in payment of wages are wreaking havoc. Despite this grim and unbearable situation, an extremely anti-labour amendment to the labour law, targeting workers’ job security and standard of living, has been drafted, which is soon to be put to the Assembly. The last two years’ average pay, which formed the basis for working out the pensions, has now been changed to the last five years’ average pay, leading to a sharp fall in pensions. The insurance cover for millions of construction workers, despite their having registered and paid for it, has still not come into effect. Contractor companies are busy ripping off workers, and job insecurity, redundancies and plant closures are at an all-time high.

There is no doubt that not only workers but any decent and fair-minded person would consider the imposition of such conditions on millions of workers and their families as unacceptable. Therefore, we the undersigned workers demand, as urgent steps towards putting an end to the current appalling situation, a rise in the minimum wage in line with the true rate of inflation based on the cost of living, at a decent level, of a four-member household, to be determined with the participation of the representatives of workers elected at their general assemblies. Additionally, we insist that the amendment to the labour law be scrapped and the calculation of pensions based on the average of the last five years’ pay be terminated. We demand the immediate implementation of the insurance scheme for construction workers, as well as of the government undertaking to end employment through third-party contractors and the signing, instead, of direct and permanent contracts with workers. We further demand the introduction of firm, legally binding mechanisms to ensure timely payment of wages and prosecution of employers who force workers to work without a contract of employment or with so-called blank contracts or who fail to pay the workers on time.

*   *   *

  

To all trade unions and labour sites

Please express solidarity by widely publicising the campaign and the news of the protest.

For further info, contact:

International Labour Solidarity Committee – Iran

Co-ordinator: Shahla Daneshfar (shahla_daneshfar@yahoo.com)

Spokesperson: Bahram Soroush (bahram.soroush@gmail.com)

http://free-them-now.blogspot.co.uk/

18 Dec 2012

Swedish Transport Workers Union condemns the massacre of South African miners

The Congress of Sweden’s transport workers’ union, meeting in the city of Örebro in August, condemned the massacre of Marikana platinum miners by the South African police. Below you can read the full text of the Congress statement. Also, follow this link to sign the petition of the campaign in support of Marikana miners: Solidarity with Labor in South Africa

International Labour Solidarity Committee - Iran

*   *   *

INTERNATIONAL PETITION OF SOLIDARITY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN MINEWORKERS

Statement from the Swedish Transport Workers Union

We workers and union activists strongly condemn the massacre of Marikana platinum miners in South Africa by the police on August 16th. This was a sheer barbarity and a crime against humanity - a massacre of defenceless workers who just demanded a wage increase. All evidence points toward a planned attack on the strikers by the police and employer. No excuses justify this act of brutality against workers. We call upon all international workers and trade unionists and all people of the world to protest and condemn this barbarity by the South African police and employer.

We demand that:

1- The identity of all the murdered miners should be publicized as soon as possible. All arrested workers and protesters must be released immediately.

2- All authorities and individuals who were in any level involved in this mass killing from decision making to organizing and shooting; should be put on trial in a public court.

3- The miners and families of all the victims should have access to free legal defence and judicial consultation during this trial.

4- All families of the victims should immediately receive financial support at reasonable standard for the remainder of their whole lives.

5- All injured miners should have access to free and high quality medical treatment and should receive their full wage until they have completely recovered.

6- Marikana platinum miners were demanding a raise of wages when they were brutally attacked by the police. This mass killing should not overshadow the miners wage demand. We support The Marikana miner´s wage increase.

Swedish Transport Workers Union

Örebro, Sweden, August 2012

Join us on June 20th: International day of support for political prisoners in Iran

The Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran has named June 20th the International Day in Support of Political Prisoners in Iran. Free Them Now! The Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran joins this protest and calls upon all workers’ and human rights organisations and individuals to support this movement in defence of political prisoners in Iran.

Currently, tens of trade unionists and hundreds of political activists are imprisoned in Iran. The imprisoned worker activists include Reza Shahabi, a leader of the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs United Bus Company; Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Mohammad Jarahi and Shahrokh Zamani, all members of the worker group Follow-up Committee to Set up Free Labour Organisations in Iran; Ali Nejati, President of the Union of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company; Ali Akhavan, a worker activist from Tehran; Mohammad Ali Mohammadi, a member of the Free Union of Iranian Workers; Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of Teachers’ Trade Association; and Abdolreza Ghanbari, a teacher activist, who has been sentenced to death and who is under imminent danger of execution. Hundreds of political dissidents are also currently in jail, many sentenced to death or long prison terms, for their opposition to the despotic Islamic regime in Iran.

Please join the June 20th events around the world, wherever you can, (details to follow) to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and jailed workers in Iran.

Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran
http://free-them-now.blogspot.com
Shahla Daneshfar: Shahla_Daneshfar@yahoo.com
Bahram Soroush: Bahram.Soroush@gmail.com

15 May 2012

Protest outside the ILO Conference Centre, 6th June, Geneva

The 101st annual conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is taking place from 30th May to 15th June in Geneva, Switzerland, at the United Nations headquarters, Palais des Nations. Activists from a number of French unions, including CGT, CFDT, FSU, UNSA and Solidaire have called for a rally outside the UN headquarters in protest against the persecution of workers in Iran.

As in previous years, we will be taking part in this protest to highlight the call for the expulsion of the Islamic Republic regime from the ILO and for the release of jailed workers and political prisoners in Iran. We call on all to join us!

Palais des Nations, Geneva, Wed 6th June, 12 – 2pm


Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran

Further info:
Shahla_Daneshfar@yahoo.com
Bahram.Soroush@gmail.com

29 May 2012

A regime which arrests, jails and flogs workers should not be in the ILO!

Islamic regime of IRAN out of ILO!

Boycott the Islamic Republic of Iran at the ILO conference!

A delegation from the Islamic regime of Iran is attending the annual conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 30th May to 15th June 2012. These people are not the representatives of Iranian workers or people, but of a regime which is a persistent and systematic abuser of workers’ and human rights. This regime jails and flogs workers for organising in unions, for attending May Day rallies and for protesting over pay and conditions. This regime is a horrific abuser of human rights: It executes children and stones women to death and has the highest record, in proportion to population, of executions in the world. Such a regime should not be in the ILO, but in international courts to face charges for its crimes against humanity. This regime should be expelled from the ILO and from all international bodies.

We request all the workers’ groups and all delegates appalled at the abuse of labour and human rights in Iran to walk out of any sessions at which the representatives of the Islamic regime of Iran may want to take the podium and speak. Their mere presence should prompt your immediate walkout.

Just as the regime of racial Apartheid faced international boycott and isolation, so the regime of gender Apartheid and gross labour and human rights violations should be boycotted, and expelled from all international bodies, and first and foremost from an organisation which bears the name of worker.

• Protest the attendance of the Islamic regime of Iran at the ILO conference!
• Boycott the Islamic Republic of Iran’s delegation!
• Call for the release of all jailed workers in Iran!
• Demand the expulsion of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the ILO!

Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran

Further info:

Shahla Daneshfar: Shahla_Daneshfar@yahoo.com
Bahram Soroush: Bahram.Soroush@gmail.com
http://free-them-now.blogspot.co.uk/

30 May 2012

12th Feb: day of protest against executions and solidarity with jailed workers in Iran

Protests in several countries around the world

UK
London
Date: Sunday, 12 February 2012
Time: 1-3pm
Place: Trafalgar Square, North Terrace (outside the National Gallery)
Organisers: Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran & Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran
Contact: Alireza Rashidi : + 44 (0)7712810675
More information: http://www.facebook.com/zendani.siasi?ref=ts

FINLAND
Ekenäs (Tammisaari)
Date: Sunday, 12 February 2012
Time: 1:00pm
Place: Town Square
Organiser/Contact: Walther Metzler (Facebook)
Notes: Walter will bring a poster and will have a candle-lighting ceremony.

SWEDEN
Jönköping
Date: Sunday, 12 February 2012
Time: 9:30am
Place: In front of Migrationsverket
Organiser: Mission Free Iran
Contact: Ali 07 69821211

USA
Washington DC
Date: Sunday, 12 February 2012
Time: 1:00pm
Place: Corner of Wisconsin & M Street in Georgetown, Washington DC
Details: March through Georgetown to raise awareness of ongoing and intensified executions and political imprisonments in Iran.

Those who are willing and able will continue the march to protest in front of the regime offices after the Georgetown action.
Organisers: Mission Free Iran & Women’s Alliance for Change in Iran
Contact: Maria Rohaly, 240-595-2633

BELGIUM
Brussels
Date: 14 February 2012
Time: 4:00pm
Place: In front of Iran’s Embassy - 15 Franklin Roosevelt Street
Organisers: Unity for Iran - Belgium
Contact: euroiranien@gmail.com

Iran: another trade unionist appears before court

4 February 2012

While 11 trade unionists continue to be jailed in Iran, another leader of the Free Union of Iranian Workers has appeared before court in the city of Sanandaj in the west of Iran.

Mozaffar Saleh Nia, a member of the Union’s executive board, was summoned to Branch Four of the Islamic Republic courts on Wednesday, where he rejected all the charges against him. In January Saleh Nia and another colleague, Sharif Saed Panah, were jailed for 15 days for protesting against the plight of homeless working children. They were freed after days of massive protests outside the detention centre by their families, supporters and the people of the city.

The Free Them Now! campaign condemns this latest attack on trade unionists in Iran, and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all jailed workers.

Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran

http://free-them-now.blogspot.com/

For further info, contact:

Shahla Daneshfar: Shahla_Daneshfar@yahoo.com
Bahram Soroush: Bahram.Soroush@gmail.com

اطلاعيه شماره ٤٠

مظفر صالح نیا از اعضای هیئت مدیره اتحادیه آزاد کارگران ایران به دادگاه جمهوري اسلامي در سنندج احضار شد

بنا بر خبر منتشر شده در سايت اتحاد، مظفر صالح نیا از اعضا هیئت مدیره اتحادیه آزاد کارگران ایران ساعت ١٠ صبح روز ١٢ بهمن با احضاريه اي كتبي از سوي شعبه ٤ دادياري دادگاه انقلاب جمهوري اسلامي در شهر سنندج حضور پيدا كرد و بعنوان آخرين دفاعيه تمامي اتهاماتي كه بر او وارد شده بود را رد كرده و فعالين صنفي و دفاع از حقوق انساني و اجتماعي كارگران را حق مسلم خود اعلام داشت.

مظفر صالح نيا در روز ١٥ دی ماه به خاطر اعتراض انسانيش به خوابيدن يك كارتن خواب در كنار خيابان و هواي سرد بازداشت و پس از ١٥ روز زندان به همراه شريف ساعد پناه يكي ديگر از اعضاي هيات مديره اتحاديه آزاد در ميان استقبال پرشور خانواده و مردمي كه براي آزادي آنها در مقابل زندان جمع بودند، آزاد شد.

جمهوري اسلامي فعالين كارگري و فعالين سياسي در عرصه هاي مختلف اعتراضي را دستگير ميكند، تا جلوي سازمانيافتن مبارزات كارگران و كل جامعه را بگيرد. خصوصا اكنون در شرايطي كه جامعه از شدت اعتراض حالتي انفجاري دارد، اين دستگيري ها تشديد شده است. رژيم با اين كار ميخواهد مانع اعتراض كردن، جمع شدن و گسترش مبارزات توده هاي مردم بشود. بايد در برابر اين تهديدات و فشارها ايستاد. اجازه نداد كه فعالين كارگري و معترضان سياسي را چنين به دادگاههايشان فرا بخوانند و مورد بازجويي و محاكمه قرار دهند. بايد تمامي پرونده هاي قضايي اي كه براي آنان تشكيل شده است تماما لغو شود و همه كارگران زنداني و زندانيان سياسي بدون قيد و شرط از زندان آزاد شوند.

كمپين براي آزادي كارگران زنداني

١٤ بهمن ٩٠، ٣ فوريه ٢٠١٢

Shahla_daneshfar@yahoo.com

Bahram.Soroush@gmail.com

http://free-them-now.blogspot.com/

Iran: Two trade unionists released, but more arrested

Two worker activists by the name Sharif Saed Panah and Mozaffar Saleh Nia, both members of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, who were arrested earlier this month, have been released on bail. The release follows several weeks of campaigning both inside and outside Iran. The released workers were jubilantly greeted by their family and supporters outside the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj.

However, a number of other trade unionists have been detained, or summoned to the Intelligence Ministry: In Tabriz, Shahrokh Zamani and Mohammad Jarahi were detained while out on bail, while Nima Poor-Yaghoub and Sasan Vahebi-Vash were summoned. Zamani and Jarahi are both members of the Follow-up Committee to Set up Free Labour Organisations. Last August, a court sentenced all four to long prison terms: Zamani to 11 years, Jarahi to five years and six months, Poor-Yaghoub to six years and Vahebi-Vash to six months.

Almost simultaneously in Sanandaj, Sheis Amani, well-known leader of the city’s textile workers and a board member of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, was detained when enquiring about the cases of other jailed workers at the Prosecutor’s Office.

Meanwhile, other trade unionists, such as Reza Shahabi and Ebrahim Madadi, leaders of Tehran’s bus workers’ union, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, member of the Follow-up Committee to Set up Free Labour Organisations, Ali Nejati, leader of the sugar cane workers’ union and Rasoul Bodaghi, from the Teachers’ Trade Association, continue to serve long prison terms for their union activity.

We call on all trade unions and human rights organisations to condemn the latest arrests and the continued jailing of trade unionists, and to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained.

Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran
http://free-them-now.blogspot.com/
For further info, contact: Shahla_Daneshfar@yahoo.com Bahram.Soroush@gmail.com

More trade unionists arrested in Iran

Letter

8 January 2012

To all trade unions and human rights organisations

We are writing to inform you that in the past two weeks there have been a further intensification of attacks by the Islamic Republic on worker activists in Iran.

The latest incident is the arrest this morning of Sharif Saed Panah, member of the executive board of the Free Union of Iranian Workers. This follows the arrest on 5th January of Union member Mozaffar Saleh Nia in the city of Sanandaj, and two weeks earlier of Mohammad Hosseini, a worker activist in Damavand City. All three have been detained for their union activity.

In the mean time, Reza Shahabi, who is a member of the executive board of Tehran and District Bus Workers’ Union, has been admitted to hospital following a ten-day hunger strike in protest against his arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. In a letter from hospital, Shahabi has protested against his treatment as a prisoner while in hospital, with restrictions even on visits by his family, and has said he would refuse medical treatment until the restrictions are lifted. Ebrahim Madadi, also an executive board member of the bus workers’ union, continues to be detained, as are Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, member of the Follow-up Committee to Form Free Trade Unions, Rasoul Bodaghi, member of the Teachers’ Trade Association, and many student and civil rights activists.

We call on all trade unions and human rights organisations to express their revulsion against the latest arrests and the continued persecution of trade unionists and political dissidents in Iran, and to demand their immediate and unconditional release.

Free Them Now!
Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran

http://free-them-now.blogspot.com/

For further info, contact:
Shahla_daneshfar@yahoo.com
Bahram.Soroush@gmail.com