Peaceful May Day rallies met with violence
and arrests in Tehran and Sanandaj
The International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC), which represents more than 170 million workers through its 312
affiliates in 157 countries and territories, regrets to have to write
you yet again to strongly protest the series of events which marred the
celebration of May Day in your country.
On the occasion of the 1st of May, a number of Iranian workers'
organisations had established the 2009 May Day Organising Committee .
This Committee had organised a peaceful May Day rally in Laleh Park,
Tehran, which was set to start at 5 pm. According to our information,
more than 2,000 workers had shown up for the event.
Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Iran
Fax: ++98-21-649.58.80
HTUR/FW 6 May 2009
Peaceful May Day rallies met with violence and arrests in Tehran and
Sanandaj
President,
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which represents
more than 170 million workers through its 312 affiliates in 157
countries and territories, regrets to have to write you yet again to
strongly protest the series of events which marred the celebration of
May Day in your country.
On the occasion of the 1st of May, a number of Iranian workers'
organisations had established the 2009 May Day Organising Committee .
This Committee had organised a peaceful May Day rally in Laleh Park,
Tehran, which was set to start at 5 pm. According to our information,
more than 2,000 workers had shown up for the event.
The Iranian security forces had, in the days prior to the event,
undertaken serious attempts at preventing it from taking place, by
issuing court summonses, making threatening phone calls, and placing
workers and labour activists under surveillance. Hours before the start
of the celebrations in Laleh Park, hundreds of uniformed police officers
as well as plainclothes intelligence officials appeared on the spot.
They positioned themselves inside the park and closed all its entrances.
Security guards from certain companies and factories - most notably from
Sherkat-e Vahed - were also present in the crowd, in order to identify
and report workers from their companies to the security forces, while
intelligence officers extensively filmed participants. According to our
information, the massive turnout appeared to have angered the security
forces.
Almost immediately after the start of the event, at 5.30 pm, the
demonstrators were violently attacked by the police and assaulted with
batons and tasers. A large number of participants were cornered, beaten
to the ground with batons, tear-gassed, punched, kicked and verbally
abused. The police also broke cameras and cell phones of anyone trying
to document what was happening.
It then began to violently disperse the workers and their families, and
went on to arrest over 200 workers and other participants, including
women’s organisations, university students, and allegedly even some
passers-by, generally resorting to unnecessarily brutal force. Over 150
of those arrested were subsequently taken to Evin prison. The names we
have received already include:
1-Jafar Azimzadeh 2- Gholamreza Khani 3- Mansoor Hayatgheibi 4- Fateme
Shah Nazari 5-Alireza Saghafy 6- Mohsen Saghafy 7- Kaveh Mozaffari 8-
Amir Yaghoobali 9- Mohammad Faraji 10- Saleh Kiamari 11- Mohammad
Ashrafi 12 -Unese Arjang 13- Mehdi Farahi Shandiz 14- Saeid Uzi 15-
Maryam Mohseni 16- Homayon Jabari 17- Shapour Ehsani 18- Jelveh Javaheri
19- Taha Vali 20- Pouria Pushtareh 21- Homa Ajdarnia 22- Hamid Khademi
23- Ainolah Basiri 24- Mahmoud Hosseini 25- Omid Shafie 26- Aisan Zarfam
27- Meysam Jafar Nejad 28- Maeilhe Yazdi 29- Masoud Logman 30-
Abdoulhassan Shahari 31- Mohammad Lotfi 32- Gholamhossein Razavi 33-
Star Sataripour 34- Afsaneh Azimzadeh 35- Seyed Javad Mosavi 36- Yekzad
Zangeneh 37- Amirali Yaghoubi 38- Hamid Ghorbani 39- Serous Rahiad 40-
Jamal Sied Ali 41- Saeed Sajodi 42- Ali Moadan 43- Najma Ranjbaran 44-
Parvaneh Ghasemian 45- Mir Bahari 46- Alireza Firozie
At another event in Tehran, organized by Metal workers, over 30 persons
were arrested and twenty five of those were subsequently put in custody.
Also on the 1st of May, six labour activists were arrested at the May
Day event in the city of Sanandaj. According to our information they
were released the day after, albeit on heavy bails (26 million toman).
Their names are: 1- Shabbou Khalili (Golriz) 2- Shiva Sobhani 3- Farzam
Abdi 4- Foaad Keykhosravi 5- Babak Bajlani 6- Mansour Karimian. All six
of them suffered aggressive treatment during their detention. Ms Shabbou
and Ms Shiva were handcuffed and blindfolded throughout the whole of
their custody. The ITUC fears that these six activists may face further
charges for their participation in the May Day events.
Mr. President, the ITUC cannot stress enough how strongly we disagree
with the course of events as described above. The workers in Tehran, as
well as in Sanandaj, had requested permission for their rally well in
advance, their legitimate and only intention being to peacefully
celebrate Labour Day, as millions of their fellow workers in countries
all over the world do. In no way can the events justify the amount of
violence used by your government’s security forces and the huge number
of detainees.
We once more express our deep concern at the level of trade union
repression in Iran. The recurrence of these saddening facts proves that
the Iranian trade union movement cannot be reduced to a few
insubordinate individuals. On the contrary, workers throughout Iran are
well aware of their legitimate rights, and bravely choose to stand up
for them in the face of fierce reprisals.
The international trade union movement believes that your government is
mistaken in its ongoing coercion of any attempt by our fellow workers in
your country to address injustices committed against them, such as
unfair working conditions, low wages or back wages. Actions to promote
better working and living conditions do not pose a threat to the Iranian
state, but are rather aimed at helping the Iranian people prosper.
It is the responsibility of your government to ensure the right and
exercise of trade union rights without fear of any violence or
reprisals. The ITUC will continue to monitor the situation of workers in
Iran very closely, and will certainly not hesitate to make use of the
available mechanisms at international level, or to once again mobilise
the international trade union movement on behalf of our colleagues in
Iran.
I urge you to take the necessary measures to ensure the immediate and
safe release of all those arrested.
Yours sincerely,
General Secretary
Cc.: Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
Minstry of Labour
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Leader of the Iranian Parliament
Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN, Geneva
International Labour Organisation, Geneva
|