International Workers' Day: Release all trade unionists arbitrarily detained in the country

On earlymorning of April 30, 2014, the Iranian authorities have detained two trade unionists,Messrs. Jafar Azimzadeh and Jamil Mohammadi, and tried to detainMs. Parvin Mohammadi. All three aremembers of the Board of Directors of the Free Union of Iranian Workers. Lastyear, they organised a petition with 40,000 signatures protesting the worseningconditions of workers and were among the unionists who tried to organise a May1 demonstration. A number of other unionists were summoned for interrogationslast week when they were warned not to go ahead with the May 1 demonstration.

Moreover, atleast 12 other unionists and labour activists are currently in prison in Iranand a number of others are facing long-term prison sentences merely for tryingto organise their colleagues in independent unions.

Messrs. ShahrokhZamani (serving a total of 11.5 years in prison) and Mohammad Jarrahi(5 years) are founding members of the Painters’ and Decorators' Union as wellas members of the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Labour Unions(CPELU). Mr. Behnam (Assad) Ebrahimzadeh, another member of the CPELUand a child rights activist, is serving 5 years in prison.

At leastthree members of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organisations(CCHFWO) are serving prison terms in the Kurdistan province of Iran: Messrs. YousefAb-Kharabat (2 years); 76 year-old Mohammad Molanaei (1 year); and VahedSeyedeh (2 years).

Othermembers of the CCHFWO who have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from oneyear to 42 months and are appealing, include: Messrs Vafa Ghaderi,Ghaleb Hosseini Khaled Hosseini, Mohammad Karimi, Jamal Minashiri, GhassemMostafapour, Afshin Nadimi and Hadi Tanoumand.

At leastfive members of the Teachers’ Association of Iran (TAI) are currently servinglong-term imprisonment: Mr. Mahmood Bagheri is serving 4.5 years(commuted from the initial 9.5 years in an amnesty); Mr. Rassoul Bodaghi(6 years); Mr. Mohammad Davari (6 years); and Mr. MehdiFarahi-Shandiz (3 years). Another member of the TAI, Mr. AbdolrezaGhabari, is serving a 15-year sentence after his death sentence forcontacts with opposition groups abroad was commuted.

Otherleading TAI members, Messrs. Ali-Akbar Baghani, MahmoudBeheshti-Langaroudi, and Alireza Hashemi, have been sentenced tolong-term imprisonment, which they have appealed.

Mr. RezaShahabi, Treasurer of the Syndicate of Workers of United Bus Company ofTehran, has been serving a 6-year prison term since June 2010, while a numberof other members of the Syndicate have served prison terms or faced othersentences and persecution.

MessrsShahabi, Jarrahi and Molanaei are in pressing need of medical care, which theyhave been consistently deprived of.

The Observatory is callingon the Iranian authorities to release all those imprisoned and to stopprosecution and persecution of all trade unionists, by dropping the chargesagainst them and putting an end to the practice of summoning and interrogatingunionists. These unionists are punished only for exercising their rights tofreedom of speech, assembly and association, as enshrined in the InternationalCovenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the InternationalCovenant for Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a State party, as wellas the relevant conventions of the International Labour Organisation, byendeavouring to form independent trade-unions and to promote rights of theworking people in Iran.

For moreinformation, please contact:

• FIDH: Audrey Couprie/Arthur Manet: +33 1 43 55 25 18
• OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: +41 22 809 49 39