Iran arrests five trade unionists and sends them to the "Suite 209 of Evin Resort"

The Peninsula: "TEHRAN • Iranian security forces arrested five members of Tehran's bus drivers' union after they visited the home of their imprisoned chief, the men's lawyer said yesterday.

Tehran and suburbs bus drivers' union chief Mansour Ossalou (Whose tongue was flailed by the IR's thugs last year) , who has pushed for stronger trade unions in Iran, has been detained in Tehran's Evin prison since July after being convicted of acting against national security.

"Ebrahim Madadi, Yagoub Salimi, Davoud Razavi and Ghojari and Homayoun Jaberi went to Mansour Ossalou's house to meet his family, where they were arrested," said lawyer Parviz Khorshid, quoted by the Isna news agency.

"These arrests are illegal as these people simply wanted to meet the family of Mansour Ossalou. I hope that they will be released, even today," he added, without saying when the five were arrested.

Ossalou has been sentenced to four years in prison for acting against national security and to an additional year for disseminating propaganda against Iran's Islamic system.

Tehran's Deputy Prosecutor for Security Issues, Hassan Hadad, said he had been arrested "while distributing pamphlets against the system" and denied Ossalou's detention was linked to his union activities.

"His case has nothing to do with labour issues," Hadad told the state-run Irna news agency in an interview published yesterday.

Hadad said he had talked personally to Hadad's mother, his wife and the prisoner himself.

"We all reached an agreement but he did not fulfill it," he said, without giving further details.

Ossalou had previously been jailed between December 2005 and August 2006.

Rights group Amnesty International, the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers' Federation held protests in European capitals on Thursday calling for his release.

They also called for the release of Mahmoud Salehi, a prominent trade unionist and former head of the bakers' union in Iran's Kordestan province, who was rearrested in April after serving previous jail terms. "

In the Meantime Roozonline reports that Mr. Hassan Haddad, Tehran's Deputy Prosecutor for Security Issues, in an interview with IRNA, accuses Mr. Ossanlou of "self-beating" and declares the Bus Drivers' Union as Illegal . "We don't beat political prisoners and we don't even raise our voices at the accused."They start beating themselves up upon being arrested to draw public attention and create havoc", he said.

He also said the infamous Evin Prison (the Iranian gulag), particularly section 209, is the best prison in the world with lots of accommodations and amenities (he referred to it as Suite).

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Iran: Mahmood Salehi, leading labour activist arrested

From: Laborurnet.net:

Report by WPI England

Mahmood Salehi, a leading labour activist from the city of Saghez, was re-arrested on Monday April 9 by the Islamic regime’s security forces. Salehi who was at work at the time was taken during his lunch break by armed security forces to the public prosecutor’s office regarding his bail on charges of organizing May Day strikes and demonstrations last year.Later at the public prosecutor’s office, a revised court verdict was read to him summarily sentencing him to one year imprisonment and 3 years suspended sentence.

He was immediately transferred to the city of Sanandaj prison.Clearly this is an attempt to intimidate and attack the labour movement both in Iran and internationally. Last Year Manhood Salehi was bailed under immense international pressure from trade unions, and labour and progressive organizations internationally.

In addition, this is an attempt to undermine the vibrant workers’ movement Iran which is preparing to organize for this year’s international May Day celebrations following a huge teachers’ strike in Iran in the last couple of months over pay and conditions which resulted in the arrest of 45 teachers’ activists in the city of Hamedan on Saturday 7th April 2007.With nation-wide and daily protests such as the teachers’ strikes challenging the Islamic Republic of Iran, the regime is fearful of a powerful confrontation on May Day and is attempting to undermine the momentum of this movement by threats, intimidations and arrests of activists and labour leaders.

Note to the Editors:
Mahmood Salehi has been arrested twice since May 2003 for organizing May Day during recent last years. He was freed as a result of huge international campaigns for his release on both occasions. Mahmood Salehi has been recalled to the court over and over and has been under permanent threat and pressure by the Islamic Republic of Iran since his first arrest in May Day of 2003.

In a Related News: Iran: More Arrests of Teachers!

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