Iranian workers’ rights activists imprisoned

Two Iranian trade union leaders, Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi, continue to be detained due to their peaceful campaigns for workers’ rights, said Peter Tatchell in an editorial for the Guardian on Thursday. “They have been beaten, denied medical treatment and imprisoned because of their legitimate activities as trade union organizers,” he said.

Independent trade unions are not permitted in Iran. According to the article, “only state-sponsored labor councils are permitted and, to ensure their loyalty to the state, there are restrictions on who can stand for election to these councils. They are, in effect, instruments of the state for the purpose of controlling and pacifying worker discontent.”

Over the last three weeks, several other workers have been fined and flogged in the city of Sanandaj.

Protests took place on Thursday in more than 40 countries worldwide as part of Free Osanloo Action Day, coordinated by a group of trade unions.

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