25.04.2007
Release Mahmoud Salehi
On April 9, Mahmoud Salehi, the former president of the Bakery Workers' Union in the Kurdish city of Saqez and a well-known labour activist in Iran, was called to the offices of the local prosecutor, supposedly to discuss with the governor and the prosecutor plans for this year's celebration of international workers' day.
However, once he arrived, Salehi was told that the Kurdistan appeal court had reached its final verdict regarding a sentence passed on him three years earlier. Together with Jalal Hosseini, Mohsen Hakimi, Borhan Divargar, Mohammad Abdipoor, Esmail Khodkam, Hadi Tanomand and a number of other workers, Mahmoud Salehi had been arrested on May 1 2004 at a May Day gathering in Saqez. They were subsequently charged with organising an illegal gathering. After a number of appearances before Saqez Revolutionary Court Salehi was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, while Hosseini, Hakimi and Divargar were each given two years. The Kurdistan court of appeal's final verdict in April 2007 changed Salehi's sentence to one year's imprisonment, to begin with immediate effect, plus a three-year suspended sentence.
Salehi, who is currently in Sanandaj Central Prison, is a veteran anti-war labour activist with a track record of defending fellow workers in Kurdistan province. He has repeatedly spoken out against US military intervention in the region and in a letter smuggled out of prison he writes:
"They have sentenced me only because of my efforts to celebrate international workers' day, but they didn't dare summon me in the conventional way. They kidnapped me to shield themselves from the outrage of workers and freedom-loving people. Indeed, my arrest three weeks before May 1 2007 is a political act and not a judicial one. They want to cause problems for the independent organisation of May Day events and weaken the struggle for the formation in Iran of workers' organisations independent of the state. However, they are ignorant of the fact that I belong to the workers' social movement. They are ignorant of the fact that I and other labour activists and militants work collectively."
Workers like Mahmoud Salehi are the genuine anti-imperialists in Iran. Yet the regime is cynically using the threat of war to increase repression against the very forces who are fighting international capitalist aggression, as well as resisting the reactionary religious powers. If you oppose US aggression in the region and side with Iran's workers, it is your duty to support militants like Mahmoud Salehi.
Hands Off the People of Iran calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Mahmoud Salehi, along with all other labour activists arrested for organising May Day events.
Yassamine Mather