Water & Ports

SUPPORTING WORKERS RIGHTS

Details

Published on Wednesday, 21 May, 2008

Imagine being beaten, imprisoned and then denied medial treatment for taking part in peaceful protests.

It is almost unimaginable because freedom of speech and expression is a right in Australia and it is an international law. However, unionists, in many countries around the globe are denied this right. Currently in Iran, trade union leaders Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi have been imprisoned because of their independent voice defending fundamental workers' rights.

The Iranian state bears many of the hallmarks of a fascist state regime - it does not tolerate dissidents. Mansour Osanloo is the head of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company trade union. Although the organisation is legal it has been violently attacked by Iranian security forces. As a result of his work Osanloo has been beaten, arrested and had his tongue sliced as a warning against speaking out.

Salehi is spokesman for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions. He was arrested after a peaceful demonstration to celebrate May Day 2004 but subsequently released on bail. In 2005 he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and three years internal exile. At his trial his union activities and meetings with foreign unions were cited as evidence against him. His conviction was then overturned but after a retrial he was sentenced on 11 November 2006 to four years imprisonment for "conspiring to commit crimes against national security", later reduced to one years imprisonment and a three year suspended sentence. He was jailed again in April last year.

Osanloo and Salehi were convicted of "endangering state security" and "anti-regime propaganda". This is simply the spin of a regime intent on controlling the minds of citizens in order to obtain total power and control.

They are not the only victims. Several workers in Iran have been fined and flogged in the city of Sanandaj, according to a report by the National Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers of Iran. Their crime? Taking part in May Day celebrations in 2007.

On March 6th Australian unions participated in an International response. 'Free Osanloo Action Day' was marked by protests worldwide to demand the release of the imprisoned trade union leaders. The protest coordinated by the International Transport Workers Federation took place in more than 45 countries and demonstrated global solidarity.

In Sydney, a number of unions joined together in Hyde Park to stand up for the fundamental rights of all Iranian citizens.

David Cockroft, International Transport Workers Federation general secretary said: "The Iranian government's continuing mistreatment of Mansour is a running sore. He has asked only for his basic rights and has been answered with fists, truncheons and manacles - but he has not been forgotten. On March 6 we will once again prove that he has friends and supporters around the world."

We must act to prevent this criminal regime jeopardising and harming working people suffering in Iran.

People around the world have protested against the repression and violation of human rights. Political parties and labour organisations, trade unions, human rights organisations and institutions - Red Cross, Amnesty International for example, have all condemned the violations of the rights of workers, teachers, students, women and children in Iran. They are actively exposing this regime at global level. The international support and solidarity with social movements in Iran is growing strongly and actively more than ever.