We have been informed that a member of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company who has been arrested on 12 June, 2010 and currently in the Evin prison has gone on dry hunger strike since 4 December, 2010 to protest that his case is not looked into by the authorities. His life is now seriously endangered. Read more…
Dear President Ahmadinejad,
I am writing to you on behalf of 4.7 million transport workers who are members of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) to once again express our deep concern with regards the continued repression against the independent workers’ movement in Iran by your government. This repression includes imprisonment of six leaders and activists from the ITF-affiliated Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed): Read more…
(10 Dec 2010, Amnesty International) Imprisoned trade union leader, Reza Shahabi, has been on hunger strike since 4 December in protest at his continuing detention. We are calling on the authorities in Iran to release him immediately.
Reza Shahabi is the treasurer of the independent and unrecognised trade union, Sherkat-e Vahed. He was arrested on 12 June 2010, three days after the arrest of Saeed Torabian, the unions spokesperson.>>> READ MORE
Please call on the Iranian authorities to release Reza Shahabi and all the other jailed trade unionists in Iran. CLICK and send your message.
In the latest crackdown on Iran’s independent union at the giant cane growing and processing Haft Tapeh complex in the southern city of Shush, Executive Board President Reza Rakhshan was sentenced to 6 months in prison on December 1 by the Court of Appeal in the city of Ahvaz. The charge was “spreading lies” – the consequence of an article Rakhshan recently published entitled ‘Happy Birthday Sugarcane Workers!’ Read more…
In addition to the President of Vahed Syndicate, Mansour Osanloo and its Vice President, Ebrahim Madadi serving 6 and 3 years’ sentences respectively, four more unionists from Vahed Syndicate are in jail, as of 3 December. Another two were arrested and released recently. In November alone, four people were arrested (and one released). Here is the key development from May 2010. Read more…
“Once again, the BWI joins the ITF campaign to release members of the Vahed Syndicate arrested recently and to fully respect Iranian workers’ rights to genuine trade union representation”, says Ambet Yuson, general secretary of the Building and Wood Workers International. Homayoun Jabari, a member of the Vahed Syndicate, has been arrested in yet another attack on the bus drivers’ union. Read more…
Homayoun Jabari, a member of the Vahed Syndicate, has been arrested in yet another attack on the bus drivers’ union. He was held on Tuesday when he accompanied the wife of Gholamreza Gholamhosseini – himself violently picked up last week – to the Intelligence Office to try and discover her husband’s whereabouts. Security agents then went to his home, took away his computer and books and warned his wife that if he didn’t cooperate with them then he’d be staying in custody ‘for a long time’. Read more…
The ITF has received news of yet another thuggish assault and detention of Vahed Syndicate members by Iranian police/security forces.
According to the ITF the attack took place on Wednesday in a Karaj internet café. Saeed Torabian, publicity director of the bus workers’ union – who has previously been arrested and then released following international protests – was with fellow trade unionist Gholamreza Gholamhosseini. Gholamhosseini was released on bail from Evin Prison two years ago, after being arrested while attending a Women’s Day event. Read more…
Reza Shahabi
CAMPAIGN NEWS LETTER (29.10.2010)
Dear Friends,
1. The ITF has released the following press statement today.
ITF deplores continuing imprisonment of Shahabi, Osanloo and Madadi
Commenting on the continuing imprisonment of members of the Vahed Syndicate, ITF Inland Transport Secretary Mac Urata said: “The injustice continues. There had been some hopes that the union’s treasurer, Reza Shahabi, might be released today, but they look like they will come to nothing - just like the regime’s empty promises to release Mansour Osanloo. We invite the Iranian government to prove us wrong and show that they can still do the decent thing and release these innocent workers.” Read more…
Saeed Torabian, Member of the Board of Directors and Public Relations Director of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs (Vahed) Bus Drives was released from prison today, July 20, 2010 at 3 p.m., after 42 days in prison. He was arrested on June 9, 2010 at his home. They charged him falsely with acting against national security and making public expressions against the regime. The Syndicate sincerely congratulates Mr. Torabian and his friends, family and colleagues as well as all of the workers and organizations who made every effort to gain his freedom throughout this time. The Syndicate also demands the unconditional and immediate release of Ebrahim Madadi, Reza Shahabi, Mansour Osanloo, and all imprisoned workers, and demands that all workers of the Vahed Syndicate and the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Workers Syndicate fired from their jobs be reinstated immediately. In addition, the Syndicate demands that the government cease its judicial and security pursuit of these workers. Read more…
The ITF has invited imprisoned Iranian bus workers’ leader Mansour Osanloo to the federation’s congress in Mexico, in the wake of a statement by the Iranian government that he would be released.
ITF general secretary David Cockroft last week sent Osanloo the special invitation to attend the congress in Mexico City from 5-12 August; it was addressed to Rajaie-Shahr prison in Karaj, where Osanloo is currently being held for his trade union activities. Read more…
Protest to the Iranian government
