CSP-Conlutas sent a letter to Iranian authorities asking them to readdress the imprisonment of labor activists.
By CSP-Conlutas Media Workgroup
Currently there are at least 13 activists in jail.
Five political prisoners are connected to the 2018 strikes in the 2,900-worker Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Complex: Esmail Bakhshi, a workers leader, Sepideh Gholian, Sanaz Elahyari, Amir Amirgholi and Amir Hossein Mohammadifard, who are independent journalists and workers’ rights defenders.
Four prisoners are teachers: Esmail Abdi, Mohammad Habibi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langroody and Rohellah Mardani.
Four other prisoners are all women arrested during Tehran May Day demonstration three months ago: Anisha Assadolahi, Atefeh Rangriz, Neda Naji and journalist Marzieh Amiri.
CSP-Conlutas opposes the arrest of labor activists on democratic grounds as the 1979 Iranian Revolution was carried out to put down the Shah authoritarian regime, and not to arrest labor activists.
CSP-Conlutas understands that these arrests play in the hands of the U.S. who are imposing criminal sanctions against Iran which strongly affects the poor.
The letter was sent to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, to President Hassan Rouhani and to the Iranian High Court for Human Rights.
An Iranian labor rights NGO translated the letter into Farsi and delivered it to bus drivers in Tehran.
