A Recent interview with Parvaneh Osanloo

Mansour Osanloo returned to the notorious Rajayi Shahr prison because “he talks”, Parvaneh was told by a judge!  

Mansoor Osanloo, the union activist and leader who has been imprisoned in the past two years on the charge of organizing the independent Tehran’s Bus Drivers Union, is being kept in the maximum security criminals’ ward of Rajayi Shahr prison where the most notorious criminals are being held. In the recent months, despite his serious heart and eye condition, Mansoor has been denied medical care among other things. Mansoor’s wife, Parvaneh Osanloo, explained the current situation in an interview that was published online this week.

Parvaneh expresses her amazement upon hearing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s claim in last week interviews during a UN visit that all prisoners in Iran are tried publicly and are never denied representation by defense attorneys. This was clearly not the case for Parvaneh’s husband; listening to Ahnadinejad’s pretensions in front of the foreign media, Parvaneh wonders why her husband has been denied basic rights such as medical care for so many months despite his failing health.

“After several months of delay, my husband was finally taken to hospital on the September 20th” Parvaneh says, hoping to receive medical treatment for both an infection in his eye resulting from a recent operation and for his dangerously high blood pressure. In the hospital and in transfer, Parvaneh explains “he was put in handcuffs and shackles.” This made the situation so traumatic that the medical doctor in the hospital decided to write a letter to the prison officials requesting that they “refrain from using such instruments” because “it causes too much stress” on a patient with a heart condition.

All this happened after Mansoor was denied medical care earlier this month and was instead transferred to a maximum security prison facility and was denied any communication with outside for several days. The transfer was explained to Parvaneh as being conducted under orders from “the head of the Province of Tehran’s Security Council” and “the Head of Iran’s Prisons Association.” Parvaneh was told by the judge that Mr. Osanloo has been transferred to the Rajayi Shahr prison because he talks.

Doctors had concluded previously, after medical examinations, that Mansoor needed to spend at least 6 weeks in rehabilitation, Parvaneh explains. However, he has been so far denied even a single day of medical leave from prison.

As far as working with the Islamic judicial system of Iran goes, Parvaneh explains that although she has been in contact with several defense attorneys, she has realized that these attorneys cannot do much for her husband as the Iranian government and judicial authorities categorically ignore any effort concerning Mansoor.

“Mansoor has spent 18 consecutive months in prison now” Parvaneh says, and “much as we understand the economic hardships that the union members are grappling with in their everyday lives, we wish they could have done more to make Mansoor’s case visible to the authorities.”

Parvaneh, now the sole source of income for Osanloo family, currently has to work several shifts a day and use the time that has been designated as the annual “paid holiday time” to follow up on the situation of her husband.  

“Mansoor is in jail not because he wanted to” Parvaneh says, “but because he stood up for the rights of his comrades and co-workers; defending the rights of the working people is not a crime and therefore, my husband has done nothing illegal or against the national security. Everything that he has done is legal and legitimate.”

Summarized and translated from the original source in Farsi: http://www.shahrgon.com/index.php?news=2024