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Urgent
Action needed:
Raid on workers' meeting: Arrests of 60 labour activists
in Iran
According to a series of news releases by
the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers' organizations, on
Friday, 15th of June, 2012, at 12 noon, about 60 labour activists
including many members of the "Coordinating Committee" were
arrested by the agents of the intelligence Ministry after they raided a
house in city of Karaj while a meeting of the coordinating committee was underway.
Arrestees were beaten by the security agents and transferred to Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj.
According to an update issued by the "Coordinating Committee"
in the afternoon of June 16th, the majority of detainees were released on
bail with the exception of the following labour activists. Mitra
Homayooni, Reyhaneh Ansari, Alireza Asgari, Saeed Marzaban, Cyrus Fathi, Masoud Salimpour, Maziar Mehrpour,
Jalil Mohammadi and Faramarz Fetrat Nejad.
According to the
Coordinating Committee, the labour activists arrested on June 15th included:
Mahmoud Salehi, Mitra Homayooni, Vafa Ghaderi, Reyhaneh Ansari, Khaled
Hosseini, Saeed Marzban, Cyrus Fathi, Ghaleb Hosseini, Mohammad Abdipour, Jalal
Hosseini, Alireza Asgari, Masoud Salimpour, Abbas Andriyany, Sediq
Amjadi, Fattah Soleimani, Maziar Mehrpour, Mohammad Molanai, Vahed
Seyyedeh, Jalil Sharifian, Sediq Khosravi, Yusuf Ab Kharabad, Afshin
Nadimi, and Faramarz Fetrat Nejad (A full list of detainees is not
available at this time).
The Coordinating Committee to
Help Form Workers' organizations condemned the arrest of its members and
other workers activists and demanded the immediate and unconditional
release of all labour activists.
This
raid is absolutely outrageous and unacceptable. The Islamic Republic of
Iran (IRI) must be condemned worldwide by all labour and progressive organizations
and activists around the world for this gross act of violence against
workers. Despite the continued gross violation of workers'
rights in Iran, and regardless of the fact that labour activists are severely
repressed, IRI has been elected as an
alternate member of ILO's Board of Directors and the chair of ILO
Committee on Employment and Social Policies in recent years; in addition,
there are reports that at the 2012 ILC, which just ended on June 15th,
Iran was elected to chair the Selection Committee of the ILC. The irony
is that this raid on workers' meeting took place while the final session
of the ILC was taking place. In the past number of years, workers in
Iran have been sending numerous protest letters to the ILO without
witnessing any positive changes in their terrifying conditions. The
election of Iran at the ILO's governing body and its selection committee
is considered another slap on the face of Iranian labour movement.
IASWI is
calling on all labour and human rights organizations and concerned
individuals to express their strong condemnation for this attack on
labour organizations and activists in Iran and demand the immediate and
unconditional release of all detainees (see the sample protest letter).
More updates
to follow soon.
International
Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)
[email protected]
www.workers-iran.org
June 16,
2012
Send a
protest letter to the IRI: Demand the release of detained labour
activists
Sample
Protest letter:
I (we) have been informed
that:
on Friday, 15th of
June, 2012, at 12 noon, about 60 labour activists including many members
of the "Coordinating Committee" were arrested by the agents of
the intelligence Ministry after they raided a house in city of Karaj
while a meeting of the coordinating committee was underway. Arrestees
were beaten by the security agents and transferred to Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj.
According to an update issued by the "Coordinating Committee"
in the afternoon of June 16th, the majority of detainees were released on
bail with the exception of the following labour activists. Mitra
Homayooni, Reyhaneh Ansari, Alireza Asgari, Saeed Marzaban, Cyrus Fathi, Masoud Salimpour, Maziar Mehrpour,
Jalil Mohammadi and Faramarz Fetrat Nejad.
According
to the Coordinating Committee the labour activists arrested included:
Mahmoud Salehi, Mitra Homayooni, Vafa Ghaderi, Reyhaneh Ansari, Khaled
Hosseini, Saeed Marzban, Cyrus Fathi, Ghaleb Hosseini, Mohammad Abdipour, Jalal
Hosseini, Alireza Asgari, Masoud Salimpour, Abbas Andriyany, Sediq
Amjadi, Fattah Soleimani, Maziar Mehrpour, Mohammad Molanai, Vahed
Seyyedeh, Jalil Sharifian, Sediq Khosravi, Yusuf Ab Kharabad, Afshin
Nadimi, and Faramarz Fetrat Nejad.
We continue
to witness many labour activists unjustly in prisons in Iran, like Reza
Shahabi, Ali Nejati, Shahrokh Zamani, Mohmmad Jarahi, Ali Akhavan, Behnam
Ebrahimzadeh. However, this raid on a workers' meeting is absolutely outrageous
and inexcusable; it is a gross violation of the most basic rights of
workers which is recognized by international conventions and universal
human rights.
I (we) strongly condemn the
recent raid and arrests of over 60 workers in Karaj. I (we) demand the
immediate and unconditional freedom of all labour activists in Iran.
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Send Copy of your Protest Letters to: [email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected];
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CC: [email protected]
_________________________________________________________________________
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran
(IASWI)
[email protected]
www.etehadbinalmelali.com
www.workers-iran.org.
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