IRAN - Continued detention of the President of the union at Sherkate Vahed (Tehran Bus Company)




Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadjinejad,
President of the Republic
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: + 98-21-6648.06.65 or: + 98 21 649 5880

TUR/JS 6 January 2006

Dear Mr. President,

Continued detention of the President of the union at Sherkate Vahed (Tehran Bus Company)

I already wrote to you on 26 December 2005, concerning the arrest of several members of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (“Sherkate Vahed”). I am now writing to you to protest against the continued detention of the leader of the Syndicate Mansour Osanloo.

We welcome the fact that most unionists arrested on 22 or 25 December were released on 28 December. However the continued detention of Mansour Osanloo in the high-security area of Evin Prison (“Section 209”, holding prisoners charged with political offenses) is unacceptable.

The ICFTU is especially concerned that Osanloo’s state of health is reported to be poor. According to our information he has a heart condition, and he was arrested shortly before he was due to undergo eye-surgery. Despite this we have been informed that nobody has been allowed to meet him since his arrest except for his wife, who was allowed to visit him on 2 January. Not even his lawyer in a previous case, Mr. Khorshid, has been allowed to meet him and therefore Mr. Osanloo remains without a lawyer.

Furthermore, the ICFTU has been informed that undue pressure has been exerted on members of the Syndicate. They have had their bank accounts closed and the payment of their wages has been halted. Furthermore, rumors are spreading that the government is planning to prosecute Syndicate members, including Mansour Osanloo. This constitutes undue harassment against trade union members for exercising internationally recognised trade union rights.

According to reports received by the ICFTU, Mr. Osanloo is facing a number of accusations, such as “having connections to Iranian political organisations abroad opposing the regime”, and other security related offences such as preparing an armed revolt. In addition, it seems that he is also accused of “maintaining relations with and receiving financial support from a foreign power”. We have not been able to confirm the exact scope of the accusations as he does not yet have a lawyer. However, based on the information we have, it is our clear understanding that these charges may be directly related to his international trade union work. International connections have formerly been used by Iranian authorities to make labour and social activists “admit” to conspiring with foreign powers against the Islamic Republic.

However, such accusations are completely unfounded, and it must be emphasized that the arrest of Mansour Osanloo has drawn strong protests from his fellow workers and union members, as well as from civil society at large inside Iran. On 29 December 2005, Mr. Osanloo’s wife stated in an interview that one of the judges involved in the case, Mr. Rasekh Matin, had said that her husband would be released “within four days”. This, however, failed to materialise. As a result, several thousand demonstrators went to Tehran’s Azadi stadium on 2 January, chanting slogans for his release. Earlier, on January 1st, several hundred well-known writers, students, labour activists and Members of Parliament wrote an open letter to the Government , demanding that it implement ILO Conventions and release Osanloo. It has also been reported that 1500 Sherkate Vahed workers signed a petition for his release.

The continued harassment of Syndicate leaders as well as the severe sentences handed down in the Saqez trials in 2005, lead the ICFTU to the inescapable conclusion that a new pattern of repression against free and independent trade union activists is emerging in Iran. One particularly alarming feature is that contact with international union organisations such as our own or, indeed, the ILO itself, seems to be penalized. The Sherkate Vahed Syndicate has amongst others made its grievances known directly to the ILO and in the Saqez trial it was held against one of the defendants that he had met an ICFTU delegation to Iran.

The right to cooperate with international trade union organisations is a fundamental element of union solidarity and is protected under the principle of freedom of association. As I have repeatedly informed you since you took office, Iran is under an obligation to respect this principle by virtue of its membership of the ILO. Therefore, I urge you once more to issue appropriate instructions to your country’s judicial and security authorities to immediately release Mr. Mansour Osanloo, as well as any other detained labour activists, and to drop all charges against them and quash sentences against the Saqez union activists. Finally, I also urge you to ensure that the authorities unblock all bank accounts of members of the Syndicate and ensure the full payment of their wages and that they desist from repressing independent trade unionists and their organisations in the future.

Should a new pattern of severe repression against trade unionists take root, the international image of your country will be tarnished even further and the condemnation by the world’s trade union community will persist.

I look forward to your immediate and decisive action in these matters.


Yours sincerely,


General Secretary
 

 

 		  
 
IRAN - Continued detention of the President of the union at Sherkate Vahed (Tehran Bus Company)





Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadjinejad,
President of the Republic
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: + 98-21-6648.06.65 or: + 98 21 649 5880

TUR/JS 6 January 2006

Dear Mr. President,

Continued detention of the President of the union at Sherkate Vahed (Tehran Bus Company)

I already wrote to you on 26 December 2005, concerning the arrest of several members of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (“Sherkate Vahed”). I am now writing to you to protest against the continued detention of the leader of the Syndicate Mansour Osanloo.

We welcome the fact that most unionists arrested on 22 or 25 December were released on 28 December. However the continued detention of Mansour Osanloo in the high-security area of Evin Prison (“Section 209”, holding prisoners charged with political offenses) is unacceptable.

The ICFTU is especially concerned that Osanloo’s state of health is reported to be poor. According to our information he has a heart condition, and he was arrested shortly before he was due to undergo eye-surgery. Despite this we have been informed that nobody has been allowed to meet him since his arrest except for his wife, who was allowed to visit him on 2 January. Not even his lawyer in a previous case, Mr. Khorshid, has been allowed to meet him and therefore Mr. Osanloo remains without a lawyer.

Furthermore, the ICFTU has been informed that undue pressure has been exerted on members of the Syndicate. They have had their bank accounts closed and the payment of their wages has been halted. Furthermore, rumors are spreading that the government is planning to prosecute Syndicate members, including Mansour Osanloo. This constitutes undue harassment against trade union members for exercising internationally recognised trade union rights.

According to reports received by the ICFTU, Mr. Osanloo is facing a number of accusations, such as “having connections to Iranian political organisations abroad opposing the regime”, and other security related offences such as preparing an armed revolt. In addition, it seems that he is also accused of “maintaining relations with and receiving financial support from a foreign power”. We have not been able to confirm the exact scope of the accusations as he does not yet have a lawyer. However, based on the information we have, it is our clear understanding that these charges may be directly related to his international trade union work. International connections have formerly been used by Iranian authorities to make labour and social activists “admit” to conspiring with foreign powers against the Islamic Republic.

However, such accusations are completely unfounded, and it must be emphasized that the arrest of Mansour Osanloo has drawn strong protests from his fellow workers and union members, as well as from civil society at large inside Iran. On 29 December 2005, Mr. Osanloo’s wife stated in an interview that one of the judges involved in the case, Mr. Rasekh Matin, had said that her husband would be released “within four days”. This, however, failed to materialise. As a result, several thousand demonstrators went to Tehran’s Azadi stadium on 2 January, chanting slogans for his release. Earlier, on January 1st, several hundred well-known writers, students, labour activists and Members of Parliament wrote an open letter to the Government , demanding that it implement ILO Conventions and release Osanloo. It has also been reported that 1500 Sherkate Vahed workers signed a petition for his release.

The continued harassment of Syndicate leaders as well as the severe sentences handed down in the Saqez trials in 2005, lead the ICFTU to the inescapable conclusion that a new pattern of repression against free and independent trade union activists is emerging in Iran. One particularly alarming feature is that contact with international union organisations such as our own or, indeed, the ILO itself, seems to be penalized. The Sherkate Vahed Syndicate has amongst others made its grievances known directly to the ILO and in the Saqez trial it was held against one of the defendants that he had met an ICFTU delegation to Iran.

The right to cooperate with international trade union organisations is a fundamental element of union solidarity and is protected under the principle of freedom of association. As I have repeatedly informed you since you took office, Iran is under an obligation to respect this principle by virtue of its membership of the ILO. Therefore, I urge you once more to issue appropriate instructions to your country’s judicial and security authorities to immediately release Mr. Mansour Osanloo, as well as any other detained labour activists, and to drop all charges against them and quash sentences against the Saqez union activists. Finally, I also urge you to ensure that the authorities unblock all bank accounts of members of the Syndicate and ensure the full payment of their wages and that they desist from repressing independent trade unionists and their organisations in the future.

Should a new pattern of severe repression against trade unionists take root, the international image of your country will be tarnished even further and the condemnation by the world’s trade union community will persist.

I look forward to your immediate and decisive action in these matters.


Yours sincerely,


General Secretary