[sas-announce] free iran bus workers demo, friday

[Josh Robinson]

Free Iran's 800 jailed union activists

Support the Tehran bus workers strike

Defend the right of Iranian workers to form labour unions

Protest: Friday 10 February, 12 noon to 2pm, ILO offices, London

London ? 7 February 2006

"We support the striking Tehran bus workers and call for the release
of the 800 trade unionists jailed in Iran," said human rights
campaigner Peter Tatchell of the LGBT human rights group OutRage!.

"Over 1,000 workers were arrested in late January. Although 200 have
been released following protests by their families outside the
National Assembly building, 800 remain behind bars," said Mr
Tatchell.

"The mass arrest of union activists is the latest wave of repression
by Iran's hardline, fundamentalist President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"OutRage! backs the struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran,
including the freedom struggle of Iranian gays, women, students and
trade unionists

"The right to sexual self-determination and the right to strike and
protest are part of the same battle for universal human rights.
Whether it is the hanging of two gay teenagers last July or the mass
arrests of trade unionists in January, an injustice to one is an
injustice to all.

"While opposing any western attempt to impose regime change on Iran,
we support the Iranian people?s struggle to overthrow the clerical
dictatorship.

"We urge our friends and supporters to show solidarity with the
striking bus workers in Tehran, who are spearheading the labour
movement's heroic resistance to the tyranny of the Ayatollahs.

"Join the solidarity protest this Friday, 10 February, in London,"
said Mr Tatchell.

See below the testimonies from the families of the striking and jailed
bus workers.

*************

Support the Tehran bus workers strike

Stop the repression of Iranian trade unions

Free the jailed labour activists

Workers of Iran need your support!

Iranian government out of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)

JOIN US

When: Friday 10 February, 12 noon to 2:00pm

Where: ILO, 21-24 Millbank Tower, London, SWP

Nearest tube station: Westminster (bus 77A, 88) & Pimlico, Victoria
(bus 507)

Further info: 0795 09 24 434

Organised by the Worker-Communist Party of Iran - UK Organisation,
with the support of left-wing, pro-democracy and human rights
activists in the UK

Condemn the Islamic regime of Iran for attacking workers

Demand the immediate release of arrested workers

Call for the exclusion of the Islamic Republic and its Islamic
councils from the ILO

**************

Tehran Bus Workers' Protest - Update 14, Friday 3 February 2006

The following is the letter (translated) from the families of the
arrested bus workers, who held a protest rally on Wednesday, 1st
February, outside the National Assembly (Majles). A second rally has
been called for 10am this Saturday (4 February), when the families
will be joined by bus workers at the end of their night shift. Also,
as previously announced, the bus workers are due to take part in an
all-out stoppage today, Friday (3 February).

*   *   *

To Amnesty International, all human rights organisations, all labour
organisations and all conscientious people of the world

Our children want their fathers. Support them. Do it today.

You are certainly aware of Tehran?s bus workers? strike on Saturday 28
January and how it was crushed. You have certainly heard that more
than 500 of our husbands are in jail for wanting their rights, for
going on strike, for building a union to defend their rights. You have
certainly heard that they even took away and beat up the workers?
kids. We expect that you will support us, if you haven?t done so
already; and if you have supported us, to do so even more vigorously
so that those in charge feel even greater pressure and release our
husbands immediately.

Our husbands have not committed a crime. They say they cannot live
with wages three times below the official poverty line and are asking
higher pay. Those have committed a crime who beat up our children and
threw them in jail; those who do not recognise the slightest rights
for us.

Our husbands say we have to organise so as to put an end to dispersion
and fight unitedly against the poverty and deprivation that has been
imposed on us.

Our husbands say we need a collective agreement to be able to stand up
to employers and the state collectively, to sign contracts
collectively, enter negotiations and take strike action collectively,
and discuss long hours and work hazards collectively.

Our husbands rightly took strike action because none of their demands
had been met. They decided to strike to win the release of Mr Mansoor
Ossanlou who is in prison and gravely ill. May be in your country you
have such rights. We don?t.

Our husbands have been in prison for several days. They were badly
beaten up when they were being arrested. The wife and two daughters of
Yaghoub Salimi, an activist of our union, were beaten up. You can
imagine what they have probably done to our husbands in prison. They
are not allowing any visits and the bus company has stopped our wages.
Our children want their fathers. We expect the whole world to stand up
in our support and put pressure on the authorities to immediately
release our husbands so that they may come back to work. Your pressure
is important. Please put in all your efforts right now for the sake of
humanity, justice and the struggle against injustice, oppression and
unfairness.

1February 2006

Signatures:

Gholamreza Mirzaee, member of the Management Board, Public Relations
Officer and Spokesperson for the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran Vahed
Bus Company

A number of partners of the arrested workers of Tehran Vahed Bus
Company

----------------------

The following is the transcript of a radio interview with 12-year-old
Mahdiye Salimi, daughter of arrested union activist Yaghoub Salimi. It
first appeared in WPI Briefing 188-9, 30 January 2006, which we are
reproducing here. Translation by Arash Sorx.

*   *   *

Even children are not spared!

Interview with Mahdiye Salimi, the 12 year old daughter of union
member who was beaten and arrested

As reported in WPI Briefing, up to 700 workers of the Syndicate of
Workers and Employees of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company have
been arrested. Moreover, the wives and children of some executive
members have also been arrested. They were taken out of bed and beaten
up during raids on Friday 27 January night. The beatings continued in
detention. Substitute member of the union?s executive board, Yaghoub
Salimi's 2-year-old daughter was injured on her face in the attack,
when she was thrown into a waiting patrol van. Her 12-year-old elder
sister, Mahdiye, described the ordeal in detail in an interview with a
radio station abroad. Below you will find a translation of the full
transcript of radio ?Avaye Ashena? (familiar voice) interview with 12
year old Mahdiye Salimi:

Reporter: Hello.

Mahdiye: Hello. How are you?

Reporter: Thank you. I hope you are alright. Please tell us what
happened.

Mahdiye: We were asleep. They rang the doorbell of our home. They
called out: Mrs. Salami, come to door for one moment? They were in
such a hurry that they didn?t even allow my mom to dress properly. As
soon as my mom opened the door, they poured into our home. I was
asleep along with Mrs. Zia?s daughter. They pulled the blankets from
our bodies and started to hit us with their ?feet and hands? and told
us to get into the van. Mrs. Razavi wanted to get some clothes for her
daughter and they started to hit her badly. They even kicked my mom?s
heart with their boots and my mom had an enormous ache in her heart.
She still has some wounds on her body. They hit her with a baton and
didn?t listen to my mother's appeals. They even wanted to spray
something in my [2 year old] sister?s mouth.

Then they took us to detention. Where we went was not hygienic at all
and it was so cold. We asked for blankets. They said ?we don?t have
any?. ?We are just doing our duty?. They hit us so much. We asked for
lunch. They brought us the leftovers of their own lunch which was
nasty chicken skin mixed with some kind of sauce.

Reporter: Why did they keep hitting you and your mom?

Mahdiye: She wanted to get on the van but first wanted to take my
sister to the bathroom. As soon as she started to go, they grabbed my
sister from behind and pushed her into the van. My sister hit her head
when she was thrown into the van and they also kept hitting my mom.

Reporter: Did they do all of this in the street? Did your neighbours
see all this?

Mahdiye: Yes they did. All the neighbours came out and were watching
what was going on. When they raided our home, there was at least 70-80
of them while we were only 3 women and 5 children. They rushed to the
roof so no one could escape. They even went to our neighbours' homes
and even arrested our neighbours' guests.

Reporter: What did they want?

Mahdiye: They wanted to know where my dad is. We didn?t know that. We
didn?t have any news of my dad's whereabouts.

Reporter: Where is your mom right now?

Mahdiye: Yesterday they told us that she will be released soon. They
wanted to bring her to the Ministry of Intelligence. Somebody said
they might take her to Evin Prison but then they said she would be
taken to the fourth base of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Reporter: how old are you?

Mahdiye: I am 12.

Reporter: Did they hit you?

Mahdiye: Yes they did. They hit all of us. Even a child from year 1.
They made all the children cry.

Reporter: can I ask your name?

Mahdiye: I am Mahdiye Salimi.

Reporter: Why do you think they are doing this? Has your father done
something wrong?

Mahdiye: Nothing. My father has done nothing wrong. He just has asked
for his rights. The rights that they didn?t give him. For example for
every 200 tomans of his wage, they have taken 100 for themselves.

Reporter: Are you going to the prison with your father again?

Mahdiye: Yes.

Reporter: Are you anxious?

Mahdiye: Of course I am. How can I not be? When they took my mother
they didn?t even let us to be with her for a moment. They even didn?t
let us hug her.

Reporter: I heard that your [two year old] sister was also wounded. Is
that true?

Mahdiye: Yes. When they pushed her into the van, her lips hit metal
and was badly hurt.

Reporter: Did they continue hitting your mom there?

Mahdiye: Yes they did. They hit her even there.

Reporter: Is your school closed?

Mahdiye: No it is not. It was supposed to be closed because of heavy
snowfall but they announced that it was open.

Reporter: So you missed school too?

Mahdiye: Yes. I missed my classes.

Reporter: How many children were there?

Mahdiye: There were 5. Mrs, Zia's daughter from year 3 (10 years old).
Mrs. Razavi's daughter from year 1(7 years old). And one from year 9
(15 years) and myself (I am 12 year old and from year 6) and my own
sister who is 2 and a half.

Reporter: And how many women? Do you remember how many you were in
total?

Mahdiye: There were 3 women.

Reporter: Are you the only children who were released?

Mahdiye: No all the children were released but our mothers (my mother
and Mrs. Zia) have not been released yet.

Reporter: What do you want from people who are listening to you? What
is your wish?

Mahdiye: I want them to defend us. Do something so my mother will be
released soon. Now our mother is in detention and there is nobody to
take care of us.

The above was translated by Arash Sorx for WPI Briefing.

------------

International Labour Solidarity Committee of the

Worker-Communist Party of Iran

Co-ordinator: Shahla Daneshfar

Public Relations:
Bahram Soroush
www.wpiran.org
www.kargaran.org
www.newchannel.tv

Shiva Mahbobi
Tel: 0795 09 24 434
Address: BM Box 1919
London WC1N 3XX
Website:  www.wpiran.org