06/05/2019
IRAN:
FREE ALL Labour activists in Iran
we need your support
During 2019 May Day, the International Workers Day) event in Iran, 45 labour activists were arrested by the Islamic Regime in Iran! We need your support!
The May Day gathering, which was held in front of the Islamic Majlis (parliament) in Tehran, was attacked by the Islamic regime’s security forces. More than 45 people including labour activists, students and retirees were arrested for participating in the May Day events.
Prior to the May Day, on 26 April, several members of the Free Workers Trade Union of Iran (FWTUI) were arrested, interrogated, reprimanded and warned against participation in any May Day events.
According to Free Them Now, the families of detainees gathered in front of the notorious Evin prison to demand their release. Since Wednesday 1st May, some of the detainees were release. However, the rest of the detainees, including those arrested on 26 April, are still held in prison and those who have been released on bail could be summoned back to prison and given long-term jail sentences at any point.
Hundreds of labour activists and teachers have been harassed, imprisoned and tortured on a daily basis. These activists’ crime, according to the Islamic Regime’s authorities, range from possessing a book, posting their views on Facebook, gathering to demand for their unpaid wages, and for organising and participating in the May Day events in Iran. These activists were attacked because they were demanding for their rights such as to strike, to assemble and to form independent trade unions and other workers’ organisations, to be recognised and respected. Currently, well-known labour activists such as , Jafar Azimzadeh (Secretary of the Board of the Free Workers Trade Union), Esmaeil Bakhshi (spokesman of the Haft Tapeh Sugar plant workers trade union), Esmaeil Abdi (Tehran teacher union leader ), the teachers’ rights activists Mahmoud Beheshti Langarudi, Mohammad Habibi, Rouhollah Mardani, and Abdul Reza Qanbari are kept in prison and charged with bogus charges such as ‘national security’ in the Islamic regime’s Kangaroo courts.
The Norwegian Consideration of Trade Unions (LO) and the Teachers’ Union in the UK (NASUWT) have sent letters to the Islamic regime in Iran demanding the immediate release of those who were arrested in the May Day rallies in Tehran.
You can send a protest letter using the form below.
To : Hassan Rouhani, media@rouhani.ir
To: Mohammed Javad Larijani
To: Ali Khamenei Email: info_leader@leader.ir
To: Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
[emailpetition id=”8″]
We call on labour unions and concerned individuals to take an urgent action and send a letter to the Islamic regime’s contact details indicated below. A sample letter and the addresses are provided below:
[Sample letter]
I express my strongest protest against the arrest and detention of those who participated in the gathering of May Day 2019 in Tehran. I demand the following:
- All the May Day detainees in Iran must be immediately and unconditionally released!
- All charges against labour rights activists including ‘national security’ charges must be dropped!
- The terror and violence against workers and their families must stop!
- Workers in Iran should be able to freely exercise their fundamental rights to organise, set up their own organisations, and take part in rallies, assemblies and protests, and to take part in strike action!
Please SEND A LETTER by email or tweet:
TO:
Hassan Rouhani Email: media@rouhani.ir Twitter: @HassanRouhani
Ali Khamenei Email: info_leader@leader.ir Twitter: @khamenei_ir
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
Email: iran@un.int
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
For more information please contact:
Shiva Mahbobi
Email: shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com Tel: 0044 (0)7572 35 6661
