ITF Rep In Iran On Mission To Visit Osanloo

ITF representative in Iran on mission to visit Osanloo

Indonesian representatives of the ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation) and the Indonesian union movement have successfully arrived in Iran seeking a meeting with imprisoned trade union leader Mansour Osanloo.

Hanafi Rustandi, the Chair of the ITF's National Coordinating Committee in Indonesia and President of the Indonesian seafarers' union the KPI (Kesatuan Pelaut Indonesia), arrived yesterday in Tehran on a visit he first broached with the Iranian Embassy in Jakarta during a worldwide protest day for Osanloo on 9 August 2007. He is accompanied by Syukur Sarto, General Secretary of the Indonesian KSPSI trade union congress.

Both men hope to visit Mansour Osanloo, who is being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison as the latest move in a brutal two year government campaign against him and his Tehran bus drivers' union.

On arrival yesterday both men met with the families of Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, Vice President of the bus drivers' union, who is also in jail and in poor health. The families were reported to be delighted at the signal this latest move sends that the plight of the two men has not been forgotten by the outside world.

Just before setting off for Iran Hanafi Rustandi described the mission as "a test case for the friendship between our two Muslim countries". He added: "Iran should show its commitment to international labour standards and universal human rights. We hope this problem can be settled and Osanloo can be released due to the good ties between our two countries."

David Cockroft, General Secretary of the ITF, which has spearheaded the global effort to protect Osanloo and his union, commented: "We're delighted to hear that Hanafi and Syukur have arrived safely and met with family members and with members of the embattled Vahed union.

From their reports back we hear that their arrival has helped underline just how much the eyes of the world are on Iran in this matter, and how the members of the Vahed Syndicate are asking why, if their Muslim brothers and sisters in Indonesia can have a free and democratic union, they can't too."

He concluded: "In the spirit of Ramadan, we now hope that the Iranian authorities will allow our colleagues to visit Osanlou and Madadi on humanitarian grounds."

Mansour Osanloo, 47, is the General Secretary of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed), a free trade union that has been ruthlessly repressed by the Iranian government. In the last two years he has been repeatedly arrested and beaten up.

Just weeks after returning from a visit to the ITF in London and meetings with union leaders in Brussels, he was snatched from a bus on 10 July. The other passengers stated that he was beaten severely, and his attackers continued to assault him as they drove away.

Despite desperate pleas by his family and friends the authorities denied all knowledge of the attack and his whereabouts for two days, after which Revolutionary Court Judge Saeed Mortazavi finally changed his story and admitted that he was being held without charge in Evin prison.

See www.itfglobal.org/urban-transport/tehranbuses.cfm for a chronology of events, or Related Press at www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/freeosanloo.cfm for further information.

ENDS

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