Workers in Iran has just learnt that Mr Parviz Salarvand, a worker at Iran Khodro car plant, who had been detained for over a month by the security forces in Iran for labour activities, has been released. This comes in the wake of an international campaign launched to gain his release, as well as that of Mr Sadegh Amiri, a second detained worker (see above: Iranian regime under pressure for detaining labour activists). During this campaign, labour organisations from around the world highlighted the cases and wrote protest letters to the government in Iran, demanding the activists’ immediate release.

Mr Sadegh Amiri, a member and representative of the “Follow-Up Committee for the Formation of Free Labour Organisations” and the organiser of a May Day ceremony in Tehran this year, has also been released. He was released on bail and is still in danger of being prosecuted on fabricated charges.

In mid-May,  Kazem Nik-Khah, secretary of the Worker-communist Party of Iran - Committee Abroad, wrote to Mr Guy Ryder, general secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), as well as to unions around the world, updating them on the condition of arrested Iranian labour activists, following his earlier letter. Mr Nik-Khah writes:

“I wrote to you recently about the arrest of two labour activists in Iran. I am pleased to let you know that, according to the Follow-Up Committee for the Formation of Free Labour Organisations, one of these workers, Sadegh Amiri, has been released. He was released yesterday (Monday May 16^th) on bail in the amount of 50 million Toman (around $55,000). There is no doubt that had it not been for the action of workers and labour organisations in Iran and around the world, Sadegh Amiri would still be in prison. However, the government wants to put him on trial on the trumped up charges of ‘actions against national security’ and ‘publication of illegal leaflets’. Such charges can carry heavy penalties under the Islamic regime. In the past 25 years, thousands of people have been sentenced to long prison terms or even executed under precisely such charges. Sadegh Amiri is a member and representative of the Follow-Up Committee and the organiser of a May Day ceremony in Tehran this year. This is what he is guilty of. The regime wants to get him out of the way by framing him”.

“I would like to request that you keep up the pressure on the Islamic Republic in support of workers’ right to organise and strike, hold May Day rallies and carry out labour activities, demanding the release of Parviz Salarvand and the dropping of the charges against Sadegh Amiri. As you know, these rights are violated by the government in Iran on a daily basis.”

Workers in Iran congratulates Mr Salarvand’s and Mr Amiri’s family and colleagues and everyone who campaigned and worked hard to gain the release of these labour activists. The campaign for the dropping of all charges against Mr Amiri continues.