Osanloo’s solitary confinement ended

The ITF is glad to report that Mansour Osanloo has been removed from solitary confinement and returned to the general section of Iran’s Rajai Shahr prison.

His removal earlier this week to a solitary cell, apparently as part of an increasing attempt to intimidate him, was met by immediate protests by the ITF and others.

Mac Urata, secretary of the ITF’s Inland Transport section, commented:

Such a speedy response to the outrage that was voiced at the stepping up of the campaign to break Mansour’s spirit is gratifying. It’s a relief that he is out of immediate danger. It also underlines the importance of international opinion and solidarity. However, even a positive move like this does not obscure the fact that Mansour should not be in prison in the first place. Whatever promises the Iranian authorities may make to the international community and the UN ring hollow when trade unionists like Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi are imprisoned on trumped-up charges.

In July 2007 Mansour Osanloo, President of the ITF-affiliated Vahed Syndicate (Tehran Bus Workers’ Union) was dragged from a Tehran bus by armed men who only weeks later were identified as Iranian security forces. This followed previous attacks and intimidation and happened only three weeks after visiting the ITF and union organisations in London and Brussels.

In October of that year Osanloo was sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges of ‘acting against national security’ and ‘propaganda against the state’. In reality his only ‘crime’ has been to help found a genuinely democratic trade union for his fellow bus drivers.

Translation by: RAHANA