Iranian union leader given jail sentence

Labourstart.org reports that a Tehran court has given bus workers' union leader Mansour Osanloo a five-year prison sentence after convicting him of "acting against national security" and making "propaganda against the system". Another jailed Iranian union leader, Mahmoud Salehi, has announced that his kidney problems have worsened and his blood pressure has fallen dramatically. His life could be in danger as the authorities are doing nothing to help him. Salehi, the former president of the Bakery Workers' Association in Saqez, was arrested at a 2004 May Day rally but released on bail after going on hunger strike. On April 9 this year he was jailed for one year, and was denied the right to take his medicine with him. To send a protest message demanding Saqez's release, visit <http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=231>.

From GLW issue 713