DISK campaigns for the release of labour activists in Iran.

01.04.22

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran,

Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Ankara, Turkey consular@iranembassy-tr.ir

On behalf of its 200 000 members Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) demands the immediate release of labour rights advocates teacher Haleh Safarzadeh and writer and motor mechanic Alireza Saghafi.

The two were arrested together with other worker rights defenders on April 26, 2019 while meeting peacefully in a public park. They were put on trial by the Karaj Revolutionary Court on August 24, 2019 on the spurious charge of conducting ‘propaganda against the system’ and sentenced to one year in prison. On March 11, 2022, they were arrested together with other labour and civil rights defenders at a private gathering at Mr. Saghafi’s workplace and taken to Kachuei Prison in Karaj to serve their sentences.

DISK calls on your government to immediately and unconditionally release Ms Haleh Safarzadeh and Mr.Alireza Saghafi, to guarantee their personal and psychological wellbeing, to restore any confiscated belongings and to allow them to return to their work and their personal lives. Harassment, arrests and imprisonment of labour rights defenders will not resolve Iran’s deep social and economic tensions. On the contrary, these tensions will only begin to be addressed when workers can access their basic rights without restrictions, an essential aspect of which is the right to Inform workers of their universally recognized right to freedom of association.

We will be informing our members of the situation and look forward to swift action on your part.

Yours sincerely,

Adnan Serdaroglu

General Secretary

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