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Iranian government risks blinding Osanloo
16 October 2007
The ITF is condemning the latest tactic in what it describes as a cynical catalogue of dirty tricks played by the Iranian government on imprisoned trade union leader Mansour Osanloo.
The Federation has learned that - contrary to what its representative, Indonesian KPI union president Hanafi Rustandi was assured last week in Tehran - Mansour Osanloo has not received the emergency treatment that he desperately needs to treat injuries to his eyes that he sustained when attacked by government security forces in May 2005. This is despite the prison doctor admitting that if he is not treated within the next two weeks he could go blind.
According to the ITF this latest news reveals the duplicity of the authorities. Earlier this month Hanafi Rustandi was told that he could not visit Osanloo in jail because he was receiving medical care for his eyes. The same excuse was used last week to block a visit to Osanloo by his wife, Parvenah.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: “The Iranian government is piling outrage on outrage, digging deeper and deeper into a barrel of dirty tricks. All the evidence we have is that this is a cold blooded and deliberate attempt to weaken and undermine the most significant union leader in Iran today.”
He continued: “The one positive factor in this whole grubby affair is that the international trade union movement is doing its level best to keep the pressure on the government to solve it. I’m glad to report that just yesterday the European Transport Workers’ Federation protested at the Iranian Embassy in Brussels. And today the ITF is releasing a short film called Freedom Will Come – the Story of Mansour Osanloo, which we will be distributing to trade unions worldwide to help galvanise the campaign to free him, his colleague Ebrahim Madadi and to protect the rights of Iranian workers to choose to belong to a trade union.”
The new film can also be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in-vF2LvITk and by following the link at www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/osanloo2.cfm
Mansour Osanloo, 47, is the President of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed) trade union, which has been violently repressed by the Iranian authorities. Osanloo has been made a particular target for imprisonment and brutal attacks. He is currently being held in Evin prison in Tehran. See www.itfglobal.org/urban-transport/tehranbuses.cfm for a chronology of events, or Related Press at www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/freeosanloo.cfm for further information. Please email Dawson_sam@itf.org.uk to receive photos of Mansour Osanloo.
ENDS
For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260.
Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk
International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE
ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871
Email: mail@itf.org.uk
Web: www.itfglobal.org
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