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Urgent Action Appeal

[2008-08-14] Iran

Respect human and trade union rights in Iran!

Dear colleagues,

The human and trade union rights situation affecting teachers remains worrying in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In recent months, EI continued to support the teachers in Iran through regular communication with the Iran Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) and its umbrella organisation, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Education Workers and Teachers’ Trade Associations, which has applied for membership in EI.

EI was informed that in 2007, the Ministry of Interior adopted a decree suspending the activities of the Teachers Trade Association. In September and again in December, attempts by the Iranian teacher association to organise union meetings to discuss issues related to the teachers’ status were disrupted. Teachers gathering for the meeting location were brutally assaulted and some were taken to a police station, where they remained for either a couple of hours or days.

EI has approached the Iranian Embassy in Brussels to open a dialogue about the demands of the teacher movement. By the end of the year, the audience had not yet materialised.

EI has also joined the international and Iranian campaigns to release Farzad Kamangar, a 33-year-old Iranian teacher and trade unionist who has been repeatedly tortured in custody and sentenced to death by the Tehran Revolutionary Court in February. On 11 July, the Iranian Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty against Kamangar. EI launched an Urgent Action Appeal and an online campaign in support of Kamangar. More than 6,400 online messages have been sent to President Ahmadinejad requesting a fair trial and the conversion of the death sentence. In November and December, EI mobilised its member organisations and partners again, as information from multiple sources seemed to indicate the pending execution of Kamangar. The international support was overwhelming and Kamangar was eventually not killed. In December, Amnesty International also launched an appeal for Kamangar. In a communication from Kamangar on 7 January, he thanked the EI member organisations for their vital support.

In June 2008 at the ILO Commission on the Application of Standards, EI provided information about the discrimination in access to education and about the lack of freedom of association for teachers in Iran. EI provided an update to the ILO complaint. In November, the ILO Governing Body provided excellent recommendations to the Government of Iran regarding on workers’ rights in Iran and situation of Farzad Kamangar.

Initiatives have been taken to organise an EI mission to Iran. EI is currently waiting for feedback from the Coordinating Council.

What can you do?

As a national teacher association, you can undertake the following actions:

1. Give visibility to the situation of Farzad Kamangar and of teachers in Iran in your magazine, on your website, during meetings and via other appropriate means.
   
   
   

   	Please help us publicise our campaign by copying and pasting the following code on your webpage: <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/savefarzad/"> <img src="http://www.ei-ie.org/savefarzad/ banner_en.jpg" alt="www.ei-ie.org/ savefarzad" border="0"/></a>

   
   


2. Send an online message to to the Iranian president to appeal for a review of the case of Farzad Kamangar.


3. Write to the Iranian authorities > Your organisation is invited to appeal the Iranian government to:
   
   
   
   • review the case of Farzad Kamangar and to give further clarification about the charges against him and other teacher trade unionists currently detained;
   
   
   • commute Farzad’s death sentence;
   
   
   • desist from the use of torture;
   
   
   • allow Farzad Kamangar to have unimpeded contact with his family and his lawyer;
   
   
   • stop the harassment against the relatives of Farzad Kamangar and members of the Committee to Stop Farzad Kamangar’s Death Sentence;
   
   
   • be open for a peaceful dialogue regarding the professional concerns of teachers in Iran.
   
   
   
   

Please send appeals to:

President Islamic Republic of Iran
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran 13168-43311
Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir

Chief of State
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
E-Mail: info@leader.ir / Fax: +98-21 649 5880 (unreliable)

Minister of Justice
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Office of the Head of Justice
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., South of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 13168-14737
Islamic Republic of Iran
E-Mail: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir / Fax: +98-21 879 6671/640 4018 or 4019 (unreliable)

Please also copy your letter to the Iranian embassy in your country (in some countries, like the USA, the Embassy of Pakistan looks after the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran), as well as to EI (headoffice@ei-ie.org or fax +32 2 224 0606)

EI will of course keep you updated on all developments. For additional information or to discuss possible action, contact the EI Human and Trade Union Rights Coordinator at headoffice@ei-ie.org or +32 2 224 0680

Thank you for your solidarity and ongoing support for our Iranian colleagues.

Yours faithfully,

Fred van Leeuwen
General Secretary

[2008-08-14] 14:06:38

 

Related links/file downloads:

President Ahmadinejad is stepping up the repression of labour activists

Brit TUC protests recent sentences against trade union activist in Iran

ICEM Protests Death Sentence of Teachere, Kurdish Trade Union Leader

ITF decries detention of Ali Reza Saghafi

All Pakistan Trade Union Federation protests dead sentence against teacher, Farzad Kamangar

ITF condemns imprisonment of campaigning Iranian journalist

Iran’s lashing sentences anger CUPE leaders

 

History of Urgent Action Appeals launched for this country:

[2008-08-14] Iran

 

Related news by country:

[2010-01-15] Iranian Kurdish teacher activist Kamangar in imminent danger of execution

[2009-12-15] Iran: Farzad Kamangar still at risk of being executed

[2009-10-28] Iran: Some teachers released, others remain in prison

[2009-10-22] Iranian government continues persecuting son of teacher trade unionists

[2009-10-09] Iran: teacher unionists arrested for "celebrating World Teachers' Day"

[2009-09-07] Iran: EI draws attention of the UN Human Rights Council to the situation of teacher unionists

[2009-06-26] EI joins with other trade unions to demand rights for workers and a free society in Iran

[2009-06-24] EI to participate in Iran Action Day protest events on 26 June

[2009-06-18] Embassy protests spearhead Iran action day

[2009-05-20] World protests to demand union rights for Iranian workers

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