Osanloo and Madadi received a total of 7 years in Jail
October 31, 2007- Ebrahim Madadi’s, the vice-president of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Company, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment. Madadi’s lawyer has told the semiofficial Iranian Students’ New Agency (ISNA), on October 30, 2007, that the branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court has sentenced Mr. Madadi to two years imprisonment. Mr. Madadi was tried on the allegation of acting against national security.
The branch 36 of Tehran’s Appeal Court has confirmed Mansour Osanloo’s 5 years jail sentence effective immediately. In an interview with the ISNA, Parviz Khorshid, Osanloo’s lawyer, reported that Osanloo has been transferred to the general ward of the Evin prison to finish his jail term. Mr. Khorshid reported that Osanloo’s charges were propaganda against the system and acting against national security. The original 5 year jail sentence had been issued by the branch 14 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court in May 2007 and it has now been confirmed by the appeal court.
Mrs. Parvaneh Osanloo, Mansour Osanloo’s wife, in an interview with Radio Barabari, has vowed that they will protest these unjust sentences. She said that doctors had recommended 6 weeks to three months of medical care and complete rest for Osanloo after his eye surgery but in Evin Prison’s general ward the environment is not hygienic and sanitized and there is no proper facility for sick prisoners. She said that Osanloo has already been in jail for about 13 months in total, but she didn’t know if this period is going to be considered. She added that judiciary authorities do not listen to lawyers and Osanloo’s lawyers did not have full access to Osanloo’s file. Osanloo has been facing numerous charges and different files have been opened against him. Mrs. Osanloo mentioned that when Osanloo was kidnapped and later taken to Evin prison, a new file with additional charges were opened against him, but, she adds, those charges were withdrawn, although there might still be other opened files. Therefore, according to her, Osanloo has been sentenced to 5 years jail for his previous charges of “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the system”. The appeal court simply re-affirmed the May 2007 verdict of Tehran revolutionary Court, Branch 14, without ever considering any of the appeals and worldwide protests and his lawyers’ statements. Mrs. Osanloo added that these charges are absolutely baseless because all Osanloo had been doing was to defend the rights of workers and nothing else. The highest judicial authority in Iran that can revise the appeal court’s judgment is the State Supreme Court. According to its rules, the State Supreme Court can “verify the requests for revision of major judgments of the common courts, Revolutionary court and Military Court”. Otherwise, these sentences are to be carried fully unless the pressures by workers and human rights activists in Iran and abroad put extraordinary pressures so the state sees no other options but to cancel the sentences.
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Iran: Attempted assassination of labour activist
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On the morning of Thursday 18 October, 2007, three masked men shot Majid Hamidi, a 48-year old grocery worker and labour activist in Sanandaj, Iran, seven times in his arm, shoulder and neck. Hamidi was eventually taken to Tehran for specialist surgery and remains in critical condition. Iranian labour activists are convinced that armed attacks of this type are done with the knowledge and support of the government. Already Iranian labour activists face jailings, beatings, and other forms of persecution, including the jailing of labour leaders Mahmoud Salehi, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, as well as the severe repression of strikers at the state-owned Haft Tapeh sugar cane company. But this represents a considerable escalation. Iran is a member of the International Labour Organization and we call upon the ILO to press the government in Tehran to stop these attacks immediately.
For more information, contact info@workers-iran.org or alliance@workers-iran.org.
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran
Background Information: www.workers-iran.org
http://www.etehadbinalmelali.com/INDEXI.htm