200
workers released; all were denied the right to return to their
jobs
Hundreds
others are still in prison
February 7, 2006- According
to the reports by Mr. Gholamreza Mirzaei, the current spokesperson of the
Syndicate of workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, about 200
workers have thus far been released following the mass arrests on January 28th.
Mr. Mirzaei reported that none of the 200 released workers have been able to
return to their jobs and hundreds others are still in prison. The company has
refused to reinstate their jobs. Workers have been told that all the cases
related to the employment of the Vahed workers and those arrested must be dealt
with at the office of the Ministry of Labour at the Tehran East. The Syndicate
has been trying to deal with this issue through contacts with the Ministry of
Labor officials, which has not successfully taken place amid the intimidations
and the threats of further arrests.
In addition, Mr. Mirzaei
reported that on Monday, February 6, 2006, the security forces arrested another
member of the board of directors of the Syndicate, Mr. Hassan Mohammadi, who got
arrested while visiting his mother. The security forces raided his mother’s
rental apartment, entering through the roof, without any previous notices given
to her or to the landlord.
During the past couple of
weeks, countless protest letters have been sent to Ahmadinejad and we have seen
a number of protest demonstrations with the participation of Iranian labour
activists abroad and labour organizations in different countries, from
Canada and
United Kingdom to the
Sweden and
Germany. These actions are absolutely
important and necessary. However, as the Iranian government is escalating its
repressive measures against workers, it is crucial to intensify pressures on
this government in various ways including sustained pressure on all relevant
authorities of the Iranian government and all embassies of the Islamic Republic
of Iran.
As the Amnesty International
has correctly pointed out, the Iranian government is supposed to be bounded by a
number of international treaties including International Covenant of Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Labour Conventions. It
is absolutely unacceptable that Tehran transport workers are still behind
bars for demanding their most basic rights. The Iranian labour movement,
particularly the Tehran transport workers’ union, expects urgent
and swift interventions by the international bodies on human and workers’
rights, including the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association and others, for
the immediate and unconditional release of all arrested workers and their safe
return to work.
For more information, please
contact info@workers-iran.org.
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran
*Please note that in addition
to the president of the Islamic republic of Iran at dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir, the
following authorities of the Iranian government can be contacted.
The Officials of the Islamic
republic of Iran Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs:
- Reza Moghadasi, Ministry
of Labor’s Public relation's Director General: Email:
public_relation@irimlsa.ir
- Dr. Hossein
Talaa,
Director General, the
Security, Ministry of Labour
Email:
herasat_v_kar@irimlsa.ir.
- Saeed Hooshmand, Director
General, the National Office of the Labour and Employer Organizations. Email:
woem_o@irimlsa.ir
The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations and other International
Organizations in Geneva:
H. E. Mr. Mohammad Reza
ALBORZI
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative
H. E. Mr. Seyed Mohammad Kazem
SAJJADPOUR
Ambassador, Deputy Permanent
Representative
28,ch.du Petit-Saconnex,1209
Geneva, Switzerland
Tel.(41-22)332 21 00-21
/Fax.(41-22)733 02 03
Email:
mission.iran@ties.itu.int
Embassies of the IR
Iran:
Armenia: info@iranembassy.am;;
Australia:
ambassador@iranembassy.org.au;
Azerbaijan:
info@iranembassyaz.org;
Brazil:
webiran@webiran.org.br;
Canada:
ambassador@iranembassy.org;
China:
information@iranembassyinchina.org;
Finland:
ambassador@iran.fi;
Germany:
iran.botschaft@t-online.de;
Hungary: rahnama@iranembassy.hu;
embiran@iranembassy.hu;
India: info@iran-embassy.org.in,
pl2@iran-embassy.org.in;
Indonesia:
irembjkt@indo.net.id;
IRI Interests in the
US: requests@daftar.org;
Japan:sjei@gol.com;
Netherlands:
info@iranianembassy.nl;
New
Zealand:
info@iranembassy.org.nz;
Norway:
ambassador@iran-embassy-oslo.no;
Philippines:
ambassador@iranembassy.org.ph;
Russia:
iranembassy@iranembassy.ru;
South
Africa:
Ambassador@Iranembassy.org.za,Deputyambassador@Iranembassy.org.za;
Sweden:
consular@iran.se;
UAE:
iranemb@emirates.net.ae
UK :
INFO@IRAN-EMBASSY.ORG.UK;
Vienna:
public@iranembassy-wien.at;
Vietnam: embiri@fpt.vn
For more information, please
contact info@workers-iran.org.
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran