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Release of persecuted Iranian trade unionist welcomed
20 December 2006
Commenting on the reported release yesterday of Iranian trade unionist Mansour Osanloo, ITF General Secretary, David Cockroft, said: “We welcome the release of Mansour Osanloo, and the thoughts of ourselves and trade unionists around the world are with him today.”
In a joint statement with the International Trade Union Confederation - ITUC, Cockroft said: “Progress has been made but more needs to be done. The persecution of this man has to stop. Fundamental trade union rights have to be respected in Iran and we await similar positive news concerning Mansour Osanloo’s colleagues, some of whom have been sacked, all of whom have been denied the right to be represented by the union of their choice.”
Cockroft added: “It took worldwide protests to secure this release, and we can all feel proud to have been part of those, but it shouldn’t need to be that way. The Government of Iran has to face up to its responsibilities unprompted.”
Mansour Osanloo, the President of the trade union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was arrested on November 19th, only months after being released on bail following a long campaign of intimidation by Iranian police and state security agents that has seen him and colleagues brutally arrested and meetings violently broken up. His release followed an international campaign led by the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation ) and ICFTU, now renamed ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) that involved protests to Iran, demonstrations outside embassies and a formal complaint to the ILO (see www.itfglobal.org/urban-transport/tehranbuses.cfm for background.
ENDS
For more information on this release only, contact Sarah Finke, Mobile: + 44 790 9993645 Email: finke_sarah@itf.org.uk
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