Date: 25/11/2005

 

A judge in town of Saqez , in Iran ’s Kurdistan province, put sentences on 5 worker’s activists and acquitted 2 workers simply because they tried to participate in a May Day rally in 2004.

 

1-     Mahmoud Salehi, a well known independent workers’ right activist, was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 3 years in exile.

2-     Jalal Hosseini was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.

3-     Mohsen Hakimi was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.

4-     Mohammad Abdipoor was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.

5-     Borhan Divargar was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.

6-     Hadi Tanomand was acquitted.

7-     Esmail Khodkam was acquitted.

 

Mr Salehi and Mr Hakimi had met an International Confederation Free Trade Union (ICFTU)’s Mission that visited Iran officially in April 2004 and had told them that working class in Iran have been denied of their internationally recognised rights.

His arrest with 6 others activists in 1st of May 2004 proved that he was right.

We strongly believe that participating at May Day rally is an initial right and forcefully condemn the sentencing of working class’s activists.

We along with International worker’s organisations and human rights groups do our best to make sure that the Iranian government, at the later stage of judicial process, clear the above-mentioned activists.  

 

A group of left student at Queen Mary University of London

Written by Sediq Esmaili

  (Sediq_e@yahoo.co.uk)