Mansour Osanloo is President of the Executive Committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company. He has been arrested, interrogated, and tortured numerous times. His first arrest was in 2005 following a workers’ protest. Osanloo is being held in Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj and the Medical Examiner has recommended a discontinuation of his sentence three times for his severe heart conditions.

“Despite our pursuit of the matter and Osanloo’s critical condition, the Prosecutor has not yet to agree to his hospitalization outside the prison.  They must know about the results of Osanloo’s angiography for sure, and they must know that under these conditions, he needs immediate treatment,” said Fereshteh Osanloo regarding efforts to transfer her husband outside the prison.

“Due to my illness, I have not been to see him for a while, but my children who went to see him said that his spirits are good, as usual, but that he has physical problems. Other than the heart condition, he has also developed a disc problem in prison and his eyes are also infected. After the surgery he had for his eyes two years ago, every once in a while his eyes get infected. The prison environment is dirty and his eyes quickly get infected,” said Fereshteh Osanloo about his health.

“If the authorities behave according to law, Mansour should be released for his treatment now. He only has two or three months left of his sentence. He has been in prison for 4.5 years without being allowed furlough even once. Now that he has a dire need for treatment, it is his right to be able to leave the prison. His doctors have said this numerous times and results of his angiography have been sent to the Prosecutor’s Office. Is he not entitled to medical treatment just like any other prisoner?,” added Osanloo’s sister.

After his first arrest, Osanloo was imprisoned for eight months, three months of which he spent in solitary confinement. He was arrested by security forces again in July 2007 near his home, and after his trial was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security,” and “propagating against the regime.”

(30 April 2010) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today urged Iranian authorities to respect the rights of trade union activists and teachers to participate in International Workers Day (1 May) and National Teachers Day (2 May) observations, and expressed deep concern about recent arrests of members of teachers groups in an apparent attempt to intimidate others from demonstrating.

In February 2010, in the course of a review of its human rights record under the United Nations Universal Periodic Review process, Iran agreed to respect the social and economic rights of its citizens and their right to freedom of expression as recommended by Brazil, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Vietnam, and Kuwait.

“We call upon the Islamic Republic to abide by its commitment to respect economic and social rights and the right to freedom of expression, to halt the persecution of peaceful labor and teacher activists, and to permit groups to express their solidarity and demands on the first and second of May,” stated Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campaign.

“If the authorities go on harassing labor activists and crush the May observances, as they have in past years, it will demonstrate the total hypocrisy of the pledges Iran made,” he said.

On 24 April, three members of the Teacher’s Trade Association in Hamedan, Ali Najafi, Asghar Mohammad Khani and Jalal Naderi, were summoned to the local intelligence office. Ali Najafi was detained for a day and night. All of them were interrogated again on 26 April.

Mohammad Beheshti Langeroudi and Ali Akbar Baghani were summoned on 24 April to the Tehran Investigation Office of the Intelligence Ministry. On 29 April, their houses were both attacked and searched by intelligence agents, and they were subsequently detained, with no information given as to their whereabouts or the legal basis for their arrest.

On 22 April 2010, Tofigh Mortezapour and Hasan Kharatian, from the Teacher’s Trade Association in Tabriz, were summoned to the local intelligence office. On 26 April, the house of Mortezapour was searched and personal items, including his computer and papers, were confiscated. On 27 April both men were interrogated.

In the past week, two teachers, Ali Sadeghi and Mohammad Tavakoli, from Kermanshah, received flogging and prison term sentences for participating in a teacher’s protest in 2006, having been charged with organizing an illegal gathering. They also face security charges, which are still under review.

On 16 April, leaders of Iranian teachers associations met in the city of Yazd to formulate a statement. They were threatened and warned to leave in a telephone call from the local intelligence office. The statement by the leaders of the Coordinating Council of Teacher’s Trade Association has called for hunger strikes after National Teachers Day on 2 May.

A number of Iranian teachers are imprisoned for their labor, human rights, and political activism, including Rasol Bodaghi, Hashem Khaster, Abdollah Momeni, Alireza Ghanbari and Mohammad Davari. Two of them, Farzad Kamangar and Alireza Ghanbari have been sentenced to death.

A group of 10 Iranian labor organizations published a list of concerns and demands ahead of International Workers Day on May 1. They included the freedom to organize, strike, assemble and freely express their grievances, a fair and decent minimum wage, an end to the nonpayment of wages and arbitrary dismissal, and employment security.

The groups also called for an end to the death penalty, the reform of laws discriminating against women, and the release of imprisoned labor activists including Ebrahim Madadi, Ali Nejati, and Mansour Osanloo.

“The harsh and illegal suppression of labor activists and the exploitation of workers in Iran deserve condemnation by the international community, and victims of Iran’s abuse of labor standards deserve the support of their counterparts and people around the world,” Rhodes said.

Mansour Osanloo

(17 May 2009) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urged Iran’s leading judicial authorities to review the conviction and sentencing of labor activist Mansour Osanloo and to release him. Government appointed medical examiners have twice ordered an end to his imprisonment due to his failing health, but judicial authorities have failed to release him.

The Campaign is seriously concerned that further imprisonment of Osanloo could cause his death. Iranian prison officials have a track record of denying urgent health care to prisoners of conscience, resulting in their death. Most recently, Omidreza Mirsayafi, an imprisoned blogger, died in Evin prison on 18 March 2009 after prison officials failed to provide him urgent medical care.

Osanloo’s family has pleaded for his release, with his mother having written letters to Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of the Judiciary, in which she expressed fears for his life.

“We have tried all legal venues and appeals to the Judiciary to win Osanloo’s release to no avail; his continued imprisonment is cruel,” Osanloo’s wife Parvaneh Osanloo told the Campaign. “His family is calling on the international community, especially the labor organizations to continue supporting Osanloo and urge his release,” she added.

Osanloo has been languishing in prison since 10 July 2007. After being held in Evin prison he was suddenly transferred to Rejaee Shahr prison on 15 October 2008. The prison is unsuitable for someone with Osanloo’s severe health problems and is populated with the most dangerous criminals and violent offenders. Osanloo suffers from severe eye ailments and requires consistent medical attention because of open-heart surgery conducted a few years ago.

Fatemeh Golgozi, Osanloo’s mother, has written a letter to Ayatollah Shahroudi detailing the suffering she and her daughter-in-law have endured since 2007. She asks, “Is it justice to make my daughter-in-law with two children endure such hardship and pain simply because her husband worked for his basic rights and the rights of workers in the Islamic Republic through his union?”

Osanloo is serving a five-year prison sentence after being charged with “acting against national security” because of his activities organizing labor unions. He is the founding member of the Syndicate of Bus Operators of Tehran and Suburbs, an independent union that campaigns for the rights of workers. He has campaigned consistently for government recognition of the right to form independent unions and he has been repeatedly targeted as a leader of the campaign for workers’ rights in Iran. Events organized by his Syndicate have been attacked, during which members have been seriously injured.

“Continuing Mansour Osanloo’s incarceration is cruel and inhumane punishment in light of his physical condition, and it is emblematic of the denial of labor rights in Iran,” Aaron Rhodes, the Campaign‘s spokesperson said. “The Judiciary should immediately tend to his needs and release him to ensure his safety.”

There are serious concerns for Osanloo’s health and safety. In addition to eye ailments and his open-heart surgery, two of his arteries are clogged. He has undergone several surgeries but is denied routine specialist health care inside the prison. International labor unions and human rights organizations have urged his immediate release.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran calls on Iranian officials to release Mansour Osanloo and review laws governing medical care in prisons to ensure safety for all prisoners. The Campaign urges the government to end its persecution and prosecution of all labor activists and to release over a hundred people detained on 1 May 2009 for participating in a May Day celebration.

_____________________________________

The full text of the letter by Osanloo’s mother to the head of the Judiciary is as follows:

In the Name of God
The Honorable Head of the Judiciary Mr. Shahroudi
Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran

With Greetings and Respect,

I am Fatemeh Golgozi, mother of Mansour Osanloo, the head of the Syndicate of Bus Drivers of Tehran and Suburbs, who because he defended his rights and the rights of his coworkers has been unjustly held in prison for 3 years. I am requesting for your attention and resolution of my son’s case.

Mansour Osanloo, since his detention and the extension of his prison term has suffered from serious physical and mental ailments. Because of his condition, the government appointed medical examiner has twice ordered an end to his imprisonment, which unfortunately has been denied by judicial authorities. I, as his mother, if the highest and most respected Judge in the country will allow me, would like to ask these questions:

• Should someone who served the people for years as a driver in the Tehran Bus Company be treated in such a way?
• Why are we, as his family, facing utter indifference and lack of response from the judicial authorities to our inquiries, instead of his unconditional release?
• Is it justice to make my daughter in law with two children endure such hardship and pain simply because her husband worked for his basic rights and the rights of co-workers, within the constitutional and legal framework?
• My son, Mansour Osanloo, has done nothing but defended his rights that are guaranteed under our laws and he should not be in prison for this.

I request of you and  all the authorities in the country, all sympathetic peoples in Iran and the world and all civil structures and human rights organizations to call for unconditional release of my son. I, his old and sick mother who face difficulty visiting my son held far away in Rejaee Shahr prison in Karaj, am in a very difficult situation. I ask for all your help to assists me, within these few days of life I have left, to secure the release of my son. I brought up my children to be responsible, sympathetic, and patriotic citizens, so help me in my struggle.

In the meantime, my son who worked for 27 years for the company, was laid off without any rights or privileges. Why would they act this way with someone who has been so loyal and sympathetic to his country?

Fatemeh Golgozi

2 May 2009

International Labor Organization Should Take Action about the Repression of Workers in Iran

(8 May 2009)  The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called for the release of all labor activists and six members of the One Million Signatures Campaign still in detention after their violent arrest on 1 May as they gathered to peacefully celebrate the International Workers’ Day, and called on the International Labor Organization (ILO) to condemn the arrests.

“The brutal and illegal treatment of workers in Iran seeking respect for their rights deserves to be protested by the ILO and members of the international community,” stated Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campaign.

“The repression of labor activists in Iran is shameful, but so is the indifference of the international community, especially its members who pride themselves on supporting workers rights,” he added.

The Campaign specifically recommended that the Secretary General of the ILO take the case to the organization’s Expert Committee and publicly affirm that the May Day detentions, as well as Iran’s more general refusal to honor labor rights, are unacceptable, especially given Iran’s ratification of six ILO Conventions.

As previously reported, more than 100 people were arrested in Laleh Park in Tehran on 1 May. They included members of trade unions, journalists, women’s and children’s rights activists and others active on behalf of civil society. The Campaign has received reports that as many as 200 people were arrested, 19 of whom were women who were transferred to Vozara Detention Center. The names of 66 detained persons have been published by some labor organizations.

On 2 May, 25 men were released on third party guarantees, as well as two women. All remaining detainees were sent to ward 240 of Evin Prison where, according to those who were released, the detainees suffered ill-treatment.

According to the Iran Free Trade Union’s website, some of the detainees, including Jafar Azimzadeh, Shahpour Ehsani, and Bahram (Issa) Abedini, were asked to post very heavy bails of approximately 500 million Rials ($50,000).  Families of the detained women have been denied the right to visit them, reportedly on the orders of Judge Haddad, and the detained women have been barred from calling their families. None of the detained men have been allowed to contact their families.

Among the detained are five members of the One Million Signatures Campaign, including Nikzad Zanganeh, Amir Yaghoubali, Kaveh Mozafari, Pouria Poushtareh and Taha Valizadeh. Intelligence forces also arrested Jelveh Javaheri, Kaveh Mozafari’s spouse and a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, during a search of their home at around midnight on 1 May, without presenting any warrant. She had not been present during the demonstration.  Intelligence officers have taken the keys to the house and are not permitting entry by anyone else, arousing fears that false evidence may be planted there. The homes of arrested activists Kaveh Mozafari and Amir Yaghobali were also searched.

According to the website of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers Organizations, nineteen members of the Consumer Cooperative “Felezkar va Mechanic” [Metalworkers and Mechanics] were also arrested while they gathered on 1 May in Tehran. After two days, when the home of one of the members of the cooperative was searched by Intelligence forces who confiscated his personal belongings, their families were informed that they were being held in Evin Prison. Subsequent requests for information have been denied. Six workers arrested in Sanandaj on the morning of 1 May were released on 2 May on 260 million Rials ($26,000) bail each.

Since 2 May, the families of detainees have gathered in front of the detention centers and the Revolutionary Court requesting unconditional release of their relatives, and protested against heavy bail demands. Families have also sent protest letters to the head of Iran’s Judiciary and the Prosecutor’s Office, but have received no responses.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained surrounding May Day events. The Campaign urges the Judiciary to investigate the attack on demonstrators and bring those responsible for the arrests of activists to justice.

The Campaign continues to be concerned about the situations of trade union activists Mansour Osanloo, Ebrahim Maddadi and Farzad Kamangar who are still in prison for their activities and urges for the ILO to publicly call for their release.

(1 May 2009) Security and police forces violently attacked Iranian workers as they gathered in Laleh Park in Tehran to observe International Workers’ Day on May 1^st, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported. The demonstration had been called by ten independent labor organizations. According to information received by the Campaign more than 100 persons were arrested, and citizens not participating in the attempted May Day observance were among those beaten.

“These brutal and deplorable attacks are emblematic of the Iranian government’s utter contempt for workers and for the state’s international obligations to protect worker’s rights,” stated Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign.

An eyewitness to the events in Tehran told the Campaign that she saw five police vans full of arrested people. She described the attack as follows:

“It was about 5 pm. Many people were in the Park. Usually on Fridays the park is crowded. Many people were walking around the fountain where the gathering was supposed to be held at 6pm. Without warning, two vans parked and plain-clothes agents came out of them and started to arrest people. Suddenly, I heard the call, “Long live the labor movement!” Two more vans came, and agents attacked and arrested people. As people resisted, they were beaten with batons and punched and kicked. The attack took 15 minutes after which people walked away because the park was full of security agents who would arrest anyone near the fountain.”

One of the detainees reported by cell phone from the police station in Vesal that more than 100 persons had been arrested.

Citizens detained in the incident have been transferred to different police stations and detention centers. According to the Iran Free Trade Union website, some of the well-known labor activists detained include Jafar Azimzadeh, Shahpour Ehsanirad, Maryam Mohseni and Behrouz Khabazzadeh. Other sources and eyewitnesses reported that seven members of the Association to Defend Child Workers are among detainees.

According to the Iran Free Trade Union website, another May Day gathering was scheduled to take place at 5pm in Sanandaj in Amirieh, the main square. On the morning of May 1^st, five labor rights activists were summoned to the Intelligence Office in Sanandaj and arrested in an attempt to prevent the gathering: Sedigh Karimi, Sharif Saedpanah, Majid Mohammadi, Seyed Khaled Hosseini and Zhyan Sobhani. As activists formed a group in the square, plain-clothes agents and police forces tried to collect their placards, meeting resistance from the demonstrators. The crowed started to chant, “Long live workers” and “Political prisoners should be released.” They were attacked and severely beaten by the security forces, and at least 10 were arrested. Ghayegh Key Khosravi is also among the detainees.

Other assaults on labor activists have taken place in Kurdistan in recent days. On 29 April, Karim Fateh, Ali (Omar) Minaie, and Hadi Tanoumand, members of the Coordinating Committee to Help to Establish Workers Organizations, were summoned to the Intelligence Department of the police station in Bukan. On the same day, Zhiyan Sobhani and Kourosh Bakhshandeh, members of the Committee, and Amaj Nikdel (14) were summoned to police station number 12 in Sanandaj. Sobhani, Bakhshandeh and Nikdel were previously arrested and released in Sanandaj on 17 April when they went to visit Ghaleb Hosseini, a prisoner sentenced for his May Day activists last year.

On 27 April, Yousef Bokhrabad and Vahed Resideh were questioned about May Day observances in the Intelligence Office in Mahabad. On the same day, Hassan Rasoulnejad and Ahmad Eski Baghdadi were summoned and questioned in Bukan. All these 4 workers activists are members of the Coordinating Committee to Help to Establish Workers Organizations.

The International Campaign for Human Rights is Iran appeals for the immediate release of labor activists detained as they sought to peacefully demonstrate their commitment to fair labor practices. The Campaign also notes the urgent need to release and drop charges against unfairly incarcerated Iranian labor activists, including Mansour Osanloo, Ebrahim Maddadi, Farzad Kamangar and Ghaleb Hosseini.

(30 April 2009) Iranian workers will observe May 1^st, International Workers’ Day, as the government increases its suppression of independent labor movements, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said in a new report (available in Persian) today.

During the past year, workers previously attempting to celebrate May Day were prosecuted, and sentenced to prison and lashings. The prominent labor leader Mansour Ossanloo remains in prison, as well as other labor organizers including Ebrahim Maddadi, Farzad Kamangar, and Ghaleb Husseini. On 16 April 2009, more than 73 workers in the city of Sanandaj were arrested as they met privately to plan May Day celebrations.

“May Day provides Iranian workers a chance to put forward their demands and to express solidarity with one another publicly. To deny them the right to have independent, non-governmental celebrations, and to arrest and prosecute them for this, is a violation of their freedom of expression and their right to assembly and association, which are guaranteed under International Labor Organization conventions of which Iran is a member,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.

The report documents the repression of various independent labor organizations, including:

• summons, arrests and prosecutions of workers and members of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Factory;
• arrests, sentencing and imprisonment of members of the Tehran Bus Drivers Union;
• summons and imprisonment of members of the Free Workers Union;
• summons, detentions and prosecutions of other labor activists and journalists covering labor-related news;
• banning teachers’ professional associations and central coordinating committee, and detentions and prosecutions of teachers.

Last year, two workers planning to participate in May Day celebrations, Ghaleb Husseini and Abdulah Khani, were arrested and prosecuted in the city of Sanandaj. On 21 February 2009, Husseini was sentenced to six months imprisonment and 50 lashes, and Khani was sentenced to 91 days in prison and 40 lashes. Both lashing sentences were carried out on the same day, and they were subsequently taken to Sanandaj central prison to serve their sentences.

On 16 April 2009, more than 70 workers visited the family of Ghaleb Husseini to express solidarity with his family and to plan for upcoming May Day celebrations. Security forces attacked Ghalibi’s home, detaining all of those present. After fingerprinting the detainees and interrogating them, the detainees were released in the evening.

On 23 April 2009, eight workers in the city of Naghadeh and members of a coordinating committee were summoned to the local intelligence office. They were interrogated about their plans to celebrate May Day and intimidated in an attempt to prevent any celebrations. The eight workers are: Sadiq Khosravi; Khosrow Bukani; Omar Ismail-pour; Ebrahim Esmail-pour; Asaad Mowlud-pour; Jalil Sharifian; Khalil Sharifian; and Mustafa Sharifi.

Ten independent labor organizations, having formed the Committee to Celebrate May Day, have called for a public celebration in Laleh Park in Tehran on May Day. The Free Workers Union has also announced that representatives of ten factories, together with Tohid Hospital workers in Sanandaj, wrote a letter on 20 April 2009 asking local city officials to issue a permit for public celebrations. So far the authorities have not replied to this letter.

Noting attacks on independent workers celebrating May Day in previous years, and their arrests and prosecutions, the Campaign expresses its serious concerns regarding the possible repeat of such actions during upcoming May Day events. The Campaign urges the Iranian authorities to allow independent workers organizations to hold peaceful public assemblies on this day, in accordance with rights guaranteed by the Iranian constitution as well as Iran’s obligations under international treaties and ILO conventions. The government should immediately issue permits for May Day assemblies and prevent any attacks or violence directed at participants.

Concerns for Health and Safety of Ali Nejati

(17 March 2009) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today called upon the Iranian Judiciary to immediately release Ali Nejati, a trade union leader, and end its persecution and prosecution of labor activists.

Intelligence agents detained Nejati at his home on 8 March. He is currently being held in incommunicado detention at an undisclosed location. The authorities have not provided any information to Nejati’s family about the charges against him or where he is currently detained. The Campaign expressed its serious concerns for Nejati’s health and safety.

“Under this information blackout, Nejati may be suffering torture and ill-treatment,” said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign.

“With Persian New Year celebrations to begin on 20 March, it is cruel and inhumane to arbitrarily detain activists and deny them access to their families,” he added. “The authorities should release Nejati and respect the rights of trade unionists.”

Nejati is a leading member of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Factory Trade Union, in the southern city of Shoush. After searching his home and confiscating documents relating to the trade union, agents from the Intelligence Ministry detained Nejati on 8 March, taking him to the local Intelligence office. The agents failed to provide a detention order.

On Thursday, 12 March, a judge at Shoush Revolutionary Court issued a temporary detention order. On the same day, Judiciary officials told Nejati’s wife that he has been transferred to the prison in Dezful, a nearby city.

As Nejati’s wife attempted to visit him at Dezful prison, she witnessed his transfer out of that prison in a car. Since then, Nejati’s family has had no information about his whereabouts. When Nejati’s wife requested information from Shoush Revolutionary Court, the authorities told her that the judge who issued the order had left to celebrate the New Year and would not return until 4 April.

“It is completely unacceptable to withhold information about Nejati from his family. The Judiciary is responsible for his health and safety and cannot continue to hold him without charge in a secret location,” Ghaemi said.

Workers at Haft Tapeh factory have been engaged in establishing an independent labor union for the past several years. Last month, seven other members of the Hapt Tapeh Union were detained and subsequently released on bail.

Nejati and three other union members have also been subject to prosecution for trade unionist activities. On 17 and 23 February, their trial was held, although their sentences have not been publicly announced.

The Iranian authorities have implemented highly repressive policies to suppress the independent trade-unionist movement in Iran. On 18 February, two female labor activists, Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, were flogged for celebrating May Day. Razani was flogged with 70 lashes and Kheirabadi received 15 lashes.

Two leading members of the Tehran Bus Workers’ Union, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, are currently in prison serving sentences relating to their trade union activists. Mohsen Hakimi, a labor activist and member of the Iranian Writers Association, was detained without charge on 22 December 2008.

The Campaign called on the Iranian authorities to honor their international legal obligation to recognize workers’ fundamental rights to freedom of association and to form unions to protect their interests. These rights are guaranteed by Article 22 of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which Iran is a signatory. As a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Iran is obligated to respect and implement these rights.

Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, courtesy of labourstart.org

(20 February 2009) Two Iranian women labor activists, convicted for participating in May Day celebrations, have been punished by flogging, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today.

According to local sources, on 18 February, Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi were flogged inside the central prison in Sanandaj, capital of the Iranian Kurdistan province. Razani was flogged 70 lashes and Kheirabadi received 15 lashes.

“These inhumane and barbaric floggings demonstrate an utter disregard for the rights of Iranian citizens by a hardliner clique inside the Judiciary, who are determined to drag Iran’s human rights record to new lows,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.

Branch 101 of Sanandaj Penal Court originally sentenced Razani to a 9-month suspended prison term and 70 lashes. The same court sentenced Kheirabadi to a 4-month suspended sentence and 40 lashes.

The appeals court reinstated the lower court’s sentence for Razani but reduced Kheirabadi’s sentence from 40 lashes to 15 lashes. The two women were informed of the appeals court’s decision on 15 February. Both women were prosecuted because of their participation in a May Day celebration in Sanandaj on 1 May 2008.

The court also sentenced two other labor activists, Abdullah Khani and Syed Ghalib Husseini, for participating in the same event to prison terms and flogging.

Last year the Judiciary also flogged workers who had participated in May Day celebrations. On 16 February 2008, Sanandaj’s Revolutionary Court issued a flogging sentence and fines for 11 workers who participated in the 2007 May Day celebration. On the same day, the authorities carried out the flogging sentences of 10 lashes each for three of the workers, Sadeq Amjadi, Fars Gooyilian, and Habibollah Kalehkani.

Iranian workers are struggling to form independent labor unions but face continuous state repression. The government and the Judiciary have regularly abused the justice system to imprison and silence labor activists.

The Campaign called on the Iranian authorities to honor their international legal obligation to recognize workers’ fundamental rights to freedom of association and to form unions to protect their interests. These rights are guaranteed by Article 22 of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of which Iran is a signatory. As a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Iran is obligated to respect and implement these rights.

“Iranian workers are suffering great hardship under the current dismal economic situation. There is an urgent need for them to be able to negotiate collectively and defend their rights and interests,” Ghaemi said.

The Campaign also called on the Iranian Judiciary and the parliament to abolish the inhumane punishment of flogging from its penal code.

“The parliament is currently considering a new draft of the Islamic Penal Code and it is time to remove flogging as a punishment through legislative action,” Ghaemi added.

UPDATE: (15 October 2008) Mansour Osanloo was suddenly taken to Rajayi Prison after being held in Evin Prison, where he has been suffering from eye and heart ailments, conditions that required care from specialized doctors. After being held for months, Osanloo was taken for treatment on 21 September 2008 to Labafinejad Hospital while in hand and foot cuffs. His wife, Parvaneh Osanloo, said that only after entering the hospital were his foot cuffs removed, before which he was unable to walk. After his operation Mansour was not seen by a doctor and his eyes swelled and became infected. Also, two of his arteries are clogged. After medical treatment for only two hours, Mansour was taken back to Rajayi Prison despite the protests of his doctors. The conditions in Rajayi prison are unsuitable for a prisoner in Mansour’s ill-health. The air is smoky, the atmosphere is tense, and the prison is far from any medical treatment facility. At every moment Mansour’s life is in danger.

Mansour Osanloo, arrested on July 10, 2007, is a leading trade-union activist who has been imprisoned several times during the past three years. Osanloo is a founding member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, an independent union that has been campaigning vigorously for workers rights.

Osanloo is currently held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Agents of the Intelligence Ministry detained and held Osanloo in Evin prison twice before: from September 7, 2005 to August 9, 2006 and from November19 to December 19, 2007.

As a leading member of the labor movement in Iran, Osanloo campaigned for government recognition of the right to form independent unions. He and his colleagues held a founding meeting to establish independent unions on May 9, 2005. Members of the government-controlled Islamic Workers Council attacked the gathering and Osanloo suffered serious injuries including knife wounds, necessitating stitches in his neck and tongue.. Security forces present during the meeting did not intervene.

Osanloo and his coworkers continued to pursue trade-union organizing activities despite the attack on their founding meeting. Security forces arrested several members of the union, including Osanloo on September 7, 2005. Although the Judiciary released all other detainees on December 25, 2005, Osanloo remained under detention. He was eventually released after posting bail in amount of 150 million Toman ($165,000) on August 9, 2006. During his detention, he was held in solitary confinement for three months and 23 days.

Osanloo’s freedom did not last long as he continued to promote trade union activities. He was re-arrested on November 19, 2006, as he was leading a workers delegation to visit the Ministry of Labor in East Tehran to discuss the dismissal of trade-union activists from their jobs. The Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office demanded another 30 million Toman($33,000) in bail before releasing Osanloo on December 19, 2006.

On February 24, 2007, Osanloo was summoned to the Revolutionary Court and charged with “attempts to jeopardize national security,” and “propaganda against the state.” In May, the court sentenced Osanloo to five years in prison; his lawyers filed an appeal. Plaincloths security forces kidnapped Osanloo on a street near his home in Tehran on July 10, 2007. For four days, the authorities refused to confirm that Osanloo was in detention. For the first seventy days, Osanloo was deprived of family visits. The 36^th Branch of Tehran Court of Appeal confirmed Osanloo’s sentence in October 2007.

Osanloo suffers from serious eye-related ailments. His family had been requesting a medical leave so Osanloo can undergo eye surgery. On January 26, 2008, the authorities finally allowed Osanloo to undergo eye surgery. However as he was transferred to a hospital outside the prison, he was kept under guard. After the surgery his doctors told his lawyer, Parviz Khorshid, that Osanloo needs at least five weeks of medical care. However, prison guards took Osanloo back to Evin prison only a few days after his surgery. Osanloo’s family and his lawyers have expressed serious concerns regarding his health and safety.

According to several conventions of the International Labor Organization(ILO), of which Iran is a member, workers in each country are entitled to legal protections such as freedom of association and protection of the Right to Organize (Convention 87); the right to organize and to collective bargaining (C98);the abolition of forced labor (C29, C105); the abolition of child labor (C138, C182); the prohibition of employment and occupation related discrimination (C100, C111); and standards regulating wages and conditions of work (C1, C14, C95, C106, C131, C132, C155). These conventions constitute and elaborate a minimum set of internationally accepted standards.

As a member of the ILO, Iran is obligated to respect and institute these standards. Iran has ratified 13 ILO conventions, but not the core conventions relating to freedom of association (C87) and the right to organize (C98). Nonetheless, in its 1998 Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the ILO states that “All members, even if they have not ratified the Conventions in question, have an obligation arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization, to respect, to promote, and to realize” these core conventions(emphasis added). ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association is charged with investigating complaints relating to its observance by member states.

Iran is one of the oldest member states of the ILO, having joined at the time of its founding in 1919. Iran’s first independent trade unions were founded more than a century ago. But today, Iranian workers are still unable to form independent trade unions, a right denied both within Iran’s labor code and de facto repressed by the government in action. The government routinely arrests and prosecutes workers demanding their most basic rights, such as demands for wages unpaid, sometimes for periods as long as 36 months. Security forces often attack peaceful gatherings by workers, harass their families, and even kill them, as happened during a gathering by copper miners in Shahr Babak, near the city of Kerman, in 2004.

Two leading trade unionists, Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi, are currently in prison. Another one, Majid Hamidi, recently the target of an assassination attempt, is hospitalized. In addition to being imprisoned and fined, eleven other workers were flogged in February 2008 for the crime of participating in a peaceful gathering to commemorate International Labor Day, May 1^st.

Although Iran’s constitution (Articles 26 and 27) recognizes freedom of association and assembly and Iran’s civil law requires ratified international treaties to be recognized equivalent to domestic laws, Iran’s Labor Law explicitly contradicts these legal obligations. Section 6 of the law addresses workers organizations in such vague terms that for nearly twenty years since its adoption, Iranian workers have not been able to freely associate with independent organizations.

According to the Labor Law, workers may only participate in three types of organizations: Islamic Labor Councils, Trade Associations, and Workers Representative for workplaces with less than 35 workers). The law explicitly encourages workers to associate with Islamic Councils, which are effectively controlled by management in workplaces. It also stipulates that only one of the above organizations may exist in a given workplace. These legal restrictions on membership and pre-definition of the allowable types of workers organizations are in direct breach of international standards and the Iranian constitution.

In addition, Islamic Labor Councils, the most common type of labor organization, are explicitly defined in Iran’s Labor Law as ideologically-centered entities. They are not focused on promoting workers rights and are incompatible with the concept of independent unions. Furthermore, workers’ membership in these Councils is subject to a vetting process, controlled by the Labor Ministry. According to Article 138, the Supreme Leader is entitled to appoint a representative in each type of workers organization. The law even forbids formation of these organizations in large industries, such as the petrochemical industry, unless the cabinet issues a special directive. Article 191 empowers the Supreme Labor Council to propose labor-related legislation to the cabinet, bypassing the parliament. Using this loophole, rug-weaving workshops and workplaces with under five employees are exempt from provisions of the Labor Law.

Over the past three decades, the track record of Islamic Labor Councils and their central body, the Supreme Labor Council, has been in favor of management and its policies. These councils are controlled under the umbrella of the Workers House.

In this context, workers have been actively seeking to form independent unions that aim at implementing international labor standards. Their movement gained strength starting in 2001, when several attempts were made to launch independent organizations. The goal of the Iranian workers movement is to educate workers and raise their awareness of their rights, as well as to advocate for legal reforms to make the Labor Law congruent with international law.

Three notable examples of recently established independent organizations are: the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, Teachers trade associations, and the Coordination Committee for Establishment of Trade Unions. Security and intelligence forces have routinely and violently attacked peaceful gatherings and meetings organized by these entities.

In 2005, during an attack on a workers meeting, Mansour Osanloo, a leading trade union activist, suffered serious injuries including knife wounds. Osanloo had stitches in his neck and tongue as a result. . In January 2006, security forces arrested nearly a thousand members of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, attacked some of their homes, beat their families, and even detained the wives and children of the leading members, to prevent a planned strike. Since then, most members of the Syndicate’s central council have been targets of prosecution and imprisonment. The Syndicate’s leader, Mansour Osanloo, is currently serving a five- year sentence, while he suffers from eye injuries due to earlier beatings, and is in danger of going blind. Fifty-four members of the Syndicate have been fired from their jobs and are prosecuted in courts for their peaceful activities.

Another manifestation of the workers movement is secondary and primary school teachers’ attempts to organize and collectively bargain. In March 2007, thousands of teachers held several protests in front of the Parliament, demanding attention to their grievances including prevalent discrimination against them as compared to other state employees and low wages forcing them below the poverty line. In response to this attempt to gain the attention of members of parliament, security forces violently attacked them. Since then, the leading organizers have been prosecuted in unfair trials and sentenced to as long as five years in prison. The government has harshly punished many of teachers involved by firing them, forcing them into early retirement, cutting wages, or suspending them. Teachers actively organizing independent associations have been exiled away from their hometowns.

The teachers’ only independent publication, Ghalam Moalem [Teacher’s Pen], was attacked and ransacked by security agents, and its reporters and managing editor have been put on trial. The Interior Ministry has declared all teachers associations illegal and is actively preventing their meetings from being held.

There are many other instances of official prosecution and persecution of labor activists. Mahmoud Salehi, a bakery worker from the city of Saqez, is in prison because of his persistent attempts to celebrate May 1^st. The court prosecuted him for “acting against national security.” He suffers from serious medical complications and his life is in grave danger. Intelligence agents also have summoned and temporarily detained Reza Dehghan, a founding member of the Painters Syndicate, and an advocate for construction workers. In the fall of 2007, Majid Hamidi, a well-known workers rights activist, suffered serious injuries to his spinal cord, following an assassination attempt by unknown gunmen. He is currently hospitalized. Eleven workers in Sanandaj were flogged in February 2008 for participating in a peaceful gathering on May 1^st.

In the absence of effective independent organizations to protect workers’ rights, the privatization of state owned companies is accelerating in a non-transparent environment, resulting in closure of many of them for quick profits by new owners through the sales of assets and land. As a result many workers are becoming unemployed and are forced to accept work under temporary contracts or even without contracts, so the employers can evade the provisions of the Labor Law.

Workers public protests are routinely met with violent repression by security forces. A notable example is the plight of the workers of Rasht Electric, the largest manufacturer of electrical and electronics products in the Middle East. For over three years, the workers at Rasht Electric have been seeking respect for their basic rights through peaceful gatherings and protests, to no avail. Other large scale workers protests include those at Haft Tapeh Complex in Ahvaz, and the textile workers in Kurdistan. In all these cases, security forces have violently broken up workers’ gatherings.