Imprisoned Iranian Labor Activists on the Eve of the ILO Session

On the eve of the 102nd session of the International Labour Organization in June, Vahed Bus Workers Syndicate released a statement on the current state of the Syndicate and its members as well as the situation of the state-sponsored labor organizations in Iran. The union also asked ITF to file a complaint against Islamic Republic of Iran in the coming session for its noncompliance with ILO regulations. A similar letter was released by Free Union of Iranian workers to ITUC. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, an imprisoned labor activist, published an open letter to ILO asking the body to not stand silent in face of numerous trampling of workers rights.

As a signatory to ILO, including 87 and 98 conventions, Islamic Republic should recognize workers rights to independent trade union organizations. Many activists are, however, in jail because of their union activities and pursuing workers rights. The following are the labor activists who sit in jail because of their activism.

Reza Shahabi, a member of the secretariat and treasurer of Vahed Bus Workers Syndicate has been in jail for three years. Shahabi was released on February 7 for treatment of injuries incurred during his arrest after spending 22 days on hunger and medicine strike. Shahabi was returned to prison on April 15, escorted by family, fellow drivers and syndicalists of Vahed and labor and civic activists. Shahabi was returned to prison while physicians have called for continued physical therapy and his need for oral surgery.

Shahrokh Zamani, an activist with Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Workers Organizations in Iran and member of Tehran’s Construction Decorative Workers Union was arrested on June 2011 and sentenced to 11 years in prison. In a letter to French comrades, Zamani described his ordeal and appealed for action.

Mohammad Jarrahi, a labor activist with Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Workers Organizations in Iran in city of Tabriz was returned to prison after his operation for thyroid cancer on February 16. Jarrahi was arrested on June 2012 and sentenced to five years in prison. Jarrahi is in need of chemotherapy treatment. He had been arrested once before in 2007 and sentenced to 14 months in jail on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and “Counter Revolutionary activity”. His sentence was then suspended due to his lawyer’s efforts.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was arrested for his labor and children’s rights activism on June 12, 2010. He was initially sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in December 2010 on national security charges. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court and commuted to five years in prison. Ebrahimzadeh, an activist with Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Workers Organizations in Iran and Street and Labor Children Defense Society, was released on January 10 of this year following pressures on the authorities because of his son Nima being hospitalized for leukemia. Ebrahimzadeh is again called to return to prison to spend the rest of his prison term.

Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of the board of Teachers’ Trade Association has been in jail since September 2009. Bodaghi is serving a six year prison term because of his union activities. Bodaghi spent several months of his term in solitary confinement and severely beaten by the prison guards. He has also been expelled from the Education Ministry and lost his salary.

Abdolreza Ghanbari, a teacher, has been in jail since December 2009 due to taking part in demonstrations following last presidential elections in Iran. Ghanbari was originally sentenced to death which was later overturned. Prior to his arrest, he had 14 years of experience in teaching.

Pedram Nasrollahi, a member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers Organizations in Iran was arrested on November 14, 2012 following his summon to the court in the Kurdish city of Sanadaj and is serving a 19 month sentence in prison.

Five activists with Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers Organizations in Iran, Ali Azadi, Behzad Farajollahi, Vafa Ghaderi, Seyyed Khaled Hosseini and Hamed Mahmoudinejad were arrested on March 7 in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj.

Sharif Saedpanah, an executive of the Free Union of Iranian Workers (FUIW) and one of the coordinators of 30,000 workers petition, was arrested on March 10. He was later released on bail and subsequently sentenced to six months in prison.

Mozzafar Salehnia, another activist with Free Union of Iranian Workers was arrested yet again in January 2013 and sentenced to six months in prison.

Mehdi Farrahi Shandiz, a labor activist, has been in jail since June 1, 2010. Shandiz was one of the labor activists arrested during the May Day ceremonies of 2009 in Tehran. Paying a visit to the branch 8 of the revolutionary court to collect his personal belongings, he was met with “inhumane treatment” which led to his protest. He was then taken to the notorious Kahrizak prison in south of Tehran under baseless accusations of disturbing the peace. He was then transferred to Evin prison where he spent nine months in solitary confinement at ward 209. Shandiz is a contracting teacher who was arrested in 2006 and spent 9 months in prison. He is a cousin of Azamsadat Farrahi, Ahmadinejad’s wife and a founding member of Contracting Teachers Union.

Ghaleb Hosseini and Ali Azadi, labor activists with Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers Organizations in Iran were arrested on March 8 for organization women’s day celebrations in Sanadaj. Ali Azadi, a bakery worker, was released on May 9 on bail and Ghaleb Hossein, released on May 13 after spending 54 days in jail in Sanandaj.

Following May Day march in Kurdish city of Sanandaj, several labor activists were arrested. Jalil Mohammadi, an activist with the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers Organizations in Iran who was arrested during the assault on the eight congress of the group, was among those arrested on May 2. Hamed Mahmoudinejad, another activist with the Coordinating Committee, was also arrested on the same day in the city. According to the Coordinating Committee, others arrested were Bakhtiar Chatani, Nastaran Mohammadi, Aram Zandi and Fardin Ghaderi. They were subsequently released on bail as well as Hamed Mahmoudinejad . Jalil Mohammadi is still in jail.

Afshin Osanloo, brother of Mansour Osanloo, has been in jail since Juanuary 2011. He is sentenced to five years in prison. Afshin Osanloo is an intercity bus driver and a founding member of Intercity Bus Drivers Union. He has been severely tortured during his prison term.

In a protest gathering by Iranian parliament on May 1st, two of the protesting workers were briefly arrested and subsequently released. According to Committee of Human Rights Reporters, Mohammad Ghasemkhani and Bahram Saeedi, two Iran Khodro workers participating in the parliament protest gathering were arrested on May 2 upon entering the factory compounds. Mohammad Ehyai, an auto worker and labor activist was arrested on May 4 following being called to the factory offices and being interrogated by plain cloth security operatives. His house was subsequently searched.

Ehyayi and few other workers were organizing a strike for back wages and planned privatization of the factory and confronted with security at the plant several months ago.

The workers activists in Iran expect ILO, as mentioned by Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, to not remain indifferent to the case of the imprisoned workers and the repression faced by the independent labor activists in Iran.