On 15 June about 60 labour activists were beaten and arrested during a raid on a house in Taraj by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Intelligence Ministry. It is the latest of a series of attempts by the regime to crack down on independent workers' organisations and highlights the need for solidarity with Iranian workers, both against the clerical-fascist Iranian state and in the event of a war between Western imperialism and Iran.
The raid took place during a meeting of the ‘Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers' organisations’ and activists were transferred to Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, to the west of the Iranian capital Tehran. The majority of detainees were released on 16 June after being interrogated. Two women and seven men are still being detained and are not able to contact anyone outside the prison.
The International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI) said: "During the last few years hundreds of labour activists have been arrested, imprisoned, persecuted and sacked from their workplaces. The repression of the Iranian labour movement has been intensifying in recent years as workers have been fighting to defend their jobs and livelihood against Capitalist economic policy of the Islamic regime. Many Labour activists, including the leaders of Tehran’s bus workers trade union and Haft Tapeh sugar cane workers trade union are currently in prison."
IASWI demands:
• Immediate and unconditional release of all detainees
• Free all currently imprisoned labour activists and all political prisoners
• The right to organise independent organisations and the right to free speech, and freedom of assembly and expression.
ASWI is calling on all labour and human rights organisations and concerned individuals to write to the Iranian President to express their condemnation for attacks on labour activists and labour organisations.
Model letter and more information at www.workers-iran.org
