Update on Osanloo’s Trial and Vahed Company’s Suspended Workers!
Saqez Labour Activists’ Appeal Trial Scheduled for March 11, 2007!
The hearing for Mr. Mansour Osanloo, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company was held on at the branch 14 of Tehran revolutionary Court on February 24, 2007.
Mr. Parviz Khorshid, Osanloo’s lawyer, told ILNA that his client faces charges of propaganda against the system and taking action against the national security. Mr. Osanloo’s lawyers, Khorshid and Molayee, defended their client during the hearing, and within the next few days they are expected to provide a written statement in defence of Mr. Osanloo to the court. The court will issue the verdict following the submission of the written defence. Although, the prosecutors have put together over 1000 pages against Mr. Osanloo, Osanloo himself and his lawyers do not think they have anything legitimate against him.
Osanloo’s hearing was conducted behind closed doors and his family members as well as his union colleague were not permitted to attend the hearing. . Many members of the union and supporters had staged a protest rally in support of Osanloo outside the court.
At the same time, according to Mr. Ebrahim Madadi’s interview with the ILNA, only 10 out of the 54 suspended workers of the company (all members of the syndicate) have been ordered back to work by the Dispute Board of the labour office of the East Tehran. The remaining 44 are appealing the decision to deny them return to work. However, the Vahed Company has protested against the decision of the labour office of East Tehran to reinstate the ten suspended workers.
Saqez Labour Activists’ Appeal Trial Scheduled for March 11, 2007!
Mr. Mohammad Sharif, the lawyer for Mahmoud Salehi, Mohsen Hakimi, Jalal Hosseini and Borhan Divargar has announced that his clients will have their appeal hearing on March 11, 2007 (Esfand 20, 1385). Their hearing will be heard by the Kurdistan Province Court of Appeal, Division 7.
Mahmoud Salehi, the former President of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the city of Saqez and a co-founder of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organization, has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. Jalal Hosseini, a labour activist in the city of Saqez and an executive board member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organization in the Western Iran, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. Borhan Divargar, another labour activists arrested on May Day 2004, was sentenced to two years in prison, and Mohsen Hakimi, who is a labour activist and a member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, was also sentenced to two years jail. All sentences were issued by the Branch One of the Saqez Revolutionary Court. The initial arrests and the final charges against the above labour activists were made in connection with their attempts to participate in May Day 2004 celebration in Saqez.
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