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21 October, 2007
Despite increased labour and human rights pressure on the Islamic regime, Iran’s government is still refusing access and giving misleading reports on the condition of imprisoned transport union leader Mansour Osanloo. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is calling recent efforts to reach Osanloo by Indonesian activists a “cynical catalogue of dirty tricks” by Iran.
The government assured Indonesian trade unionists seeking to visit Osanloo in Tehran’s Evin prison the week of 8 October that the he was receiving treatment for a two-year-old eye injury. The Indonesian activists, as well as Osanloo’s wife, Parvenah, were told by authorities that they could not visit the 47-year-old trade unionist because he was receiving treatment.
But a prison doctor admitted to the Indonesians later that, if he is not treated within the next two weeks, he could go blind. The Indonesians that visited Iran were Hanafi Rusrandi, Seafarers' Union president and ITF's national coordinating committee chairman, and Syukur Sarto, the general secretary of national centre FSPSI.
“The Iranian government is piling outrage on outrage, digging deeper and deeper into a barrel of dirty tricks,” said ITF general David Cockroft. “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.”
Osanloo was arrested for the third time on 10 July 2007, following a tour of European labour institutions and labour unions, in which he spoke openly of labour abuses and restrictions on freedom of association in Iran. He has been in prison since. In May 2005, he sustained eye injuries when beaten by Iranian security forces. Osanloo is the leader of Sherkat-e Vahed, the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers’ Union.
The ITF, last week, released a video entitled “Freedom Will Come” on his story and the story of bus workers’ efforts to organise in Tehran. It was posted late last week on YouTube and will shortly be available on DVD. The London-based Global Union Federation has also launched a petition campaign in support of Osanloo. It can be found here.