Lock & Load

Protest to free jailed Iranian union leader

12-2pm, Saturday
7 January 2006
BBC Persian Section
Bush House
The Strand
London WC2B 4PH(nearest tube: Holborn)

Bus workers in the Iranian capital Tehran have called for a worldwide day of action this Saturday, 7 January, to press for the immediate release of their union leader, Mansoor Ossanlou, who is being held without any charges in Evin Prison.

Labour movement, Iranian exile and solidarity activists will be protesting outside the BBC’s Persian Section in London to raise the issue.Bus drivers in Tehran will put up a poster on their screens with the words “Mansoor Ossanlou must be released” and drive with their lights on all day.Ossanlou, the head of the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat e Vahed), has been held without any charges since 22 December.

So far negotiations with Tehran’s Mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, for his release and over a series of other demands have produced no results.

Activists are gravely concerned that the regime is buying time and is planning to frame Ossanlou and other activists on trumped up charges. Following a successful strike on Sunday 25 December in protest at the arrests, a number of their imprisoned colleagues were released. The workers have appealed to labour movement organisations around the world for support.

posted by Brett Lock @ 1:08 pm