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ITF condemns imprisonment of campaigning Iranian journalist
28 August 2008
The ITF has denounced the detention of an Iranian journalist known for defending trade union rights in Iran.
ITF Assistant General Secretary Stuart Howard made a statement yesterday condemning the detention of Ali Reza Saghafi following reports that he was being held in Evin prison, northwest of Iran’s capital, Tehran. It is understood that he was detained after presenting himself to judicial authorities in Tehran on the morning of 26 August.
In the statement Howard said: “Ali Reza Saghafi is known for his incisive commentaries on trade union rights in Iran and there seems little doubt that this is what has made him a target. That a man of his calibre and bravery is the latest to be imprisoned shows how heavily the regime in Tehran is moving against free speech."
“If the authorities thought they could quietly remove a dissident voice at a delicate time then they’ve made a major error. It is just two months since Ali Reza spoke to the International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organization in Geneva about just this kind of repression. His views won an international audience, all of whom will protest his arrest.”
His family only learned of his detention yesterday. Meanwhile, his wife and son were also interrogated by security staff about any plans to participate in a ceremony in Tehran’s Khavaran cemetery tomorrow. The event commemorates the execution of thousands of political prisoners in September 1988. They were told they would be arrested if they attended.
The ITF has been at the forefront of the struggle to protect Iranian trade unionists such as Mansour Osanloo, leader of a bus workers’ union in Tehran, who also remains in detention.
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