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IRAN
Day of action over Iranian unionists

27 July 2007

On July 26, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) issued a call for their affiliates to join an international day of action on August 9 to protest the imprisonment of two trade union leaders in Iran. Mansour Osanloo, president of the Tehran bus workers’ union, Sandikaye Kargarane Sherkate Vahed, has for the third time over the past year-and-a-half found himself in detention. The latest arrest took place after he was abducted while travelling on a Tehran bus on July 10. He is being held in Evin prison, charged with “conspiring against national security”.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Salehi, a founding member of the Saqez Bakery Workers Association and of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers Organisations, is currently imprisoned in Sanandaj in the Kurdistan Province. There is firm evidence that Salehi’s health is deteriorating owing to inadequate medical care in prison.

Pressure is being exerted on the Iranian authorities to release both Osanloo and Salehi before August 9. However, if this fails to happen, ITUC and ITF affiliates and the global union movement will be asked to participate in an international day of action on August 9. This date marks the anniversary of Mansour Osanloo’s release from prison following an earlier period of imprisonment. On the day, affiliates will be asked to take part in a number of activities, including visiting the Iranian diplomatic mission in their country with protest letters and copies of petitions collected by the ITF.

[Visit http://www.itfglobal.org for more information.]