IRAN - Ali Nejati still incarcerated

According to reliable information from Iran, Mr. Nejati was under extreme pressures for the first two days of his arrest and was not allowed to sleep or eat.

Agents of the Intelligence Ministry raided the residence of Mr. Ali Nejati, the president of the board of directors of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers’ Syndicate, and arrested Mr. Nejati on March 8, 2009. Also, in the evening of February 28th, intelligence agents had raided the residence of Mr. Ali Nejati and searched his home and confiscated some documents related to the Syndicate.

According to other rerports, Mr. Mohammad Heydari Mehr, a board member of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers’ Syndicate, was given a verdict verbally by the city of Dezful’s Islamic Revolution Court. He has been given 8 months of suspended sentence, 4 month of imprisonment and 3 years of prohibition form participation in any workers’ election. Four other board members who were put on trial on February 17th and 23rd, Feridoun Nikoufard, Jalil Ahmadi, Ali Nejati and Ghorban Alipour, are still waiting for the court verdict. It seems that a verdict has been issued against thes workers but no written order has been given to them as of this time.

Within recent weeks, seven other members of the board of directors of the Haft Tapeh workers’ syndicate had been arrested in following order:

February 22, 2009: Rahim Boshagh

February 28, 2009: Reza Rakhshan

March 2, 2009: Ghorban Alipour and Mohammad Heydari Mehr

March 3, 2009: Feridoun Nikoufard, Jalil Ahmadi and Nejat Dehli

All these workers were released by March 5th and 7th, 2009 on bail. At this time, only the president of the Syndicate, Mr. Nejati, is incarcerated. These arrests are part of the recent wave of repression and intimidation of labour activists in Iran. In particular, the government is trying to impose The Islamic Labour Council, which is a government-sponsored agency, on workers in order to undermine workers’ indepedent union. Workers overwhelmingly boycotted the election of the Islamic Council, which is considered a repressive force that supports government and employers.

Free Ali Nejati now!

Release all jailed workers now!

International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran

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Amnesty International:

Release Ali Nejati, a trade unionist and prisoner of conscience

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=577

LabourStart Act Now: Iran: Drop charges against jailed union leaders
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c...

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Sample Protest Letter Updated March 8, 2009)

I am writing to strongly protest against the arrests of Mr. Ali Nejati, the president of the board of directors of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers’ Syndicate, on March 8, 2009. According to the latest news from Iran, intelligence agents raided the residence of Mr. Nejati on March 8, 2009 and arrested him. In the evening of February 28th, intelligence agents had raided the residence of Mr. Ali Nejati and searched his home and confiscated some documents related to the Syndicate.

Within recent weeks, seven other members of the board of directors of the Haft Tapeh workers’ syndicate had been arrested in following order:

February 22, 2009: Rahim Boshagh

February 28, 2009: Reza Rakhshan

March 2, 2009: Ghorban Alipour and Mohammad Heydari Mehr

March 3, 2009: Feridoun Nikoufard, Jalil Ahmadi and Nejat Dehli

All these workers, with the exception of Mr. Nejati, were released on March 5th and 7th, 2009 on bail.

I condemn these attacks on an independent labour organization and its activists. I demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of all incarcerated labour activists including Mr. Ali Nejati as well as Mansour Osanloo, Ebrahim Madadi, Farzad Kamangar, Pedram Nasrolahi, Salam Ghaderi, Khaled Asadi, and Borhan Saeedi.

I also ask the Iranian government to respect workers’ rights to organize, assemble and strike, put an end to persecution of labour activists and not to interfere in the affairs of independent workers’ organizations.

Name

Organization

Position

Send Copy of your Protest Letters to:

info@leader.ir, dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir, info@judiciary.ir, iran@un.int; ijpr@iranjudiciary.org, info@dadiran.ir, office@justice.ir,

CC: info@workers-iran.org

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For more information, contact info@workers-iran.org or alliance@workers-iran.org

International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)

www.workers-iran.org