Mansour Osanloo, the Iranian bus union leader, was set free on 2 June 2011 after almost fours years of imprisonment in jail in Iran.
Osanloo is the president and one of the founding members of the International Transport Workers’ Federation affiliated Vahed Syndicate, a free trade union representing Tehran’s bus workers. In 2007, Osanloo was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on charges of “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the state”. In 2010 another year was added to his sentence.
The Vahed Syndicate responded to the news by saying that they would like to thank everyone who had fought so hard for his release.
ITF general secretary David Cockroft commented that workers remain in jail in Iran “for the same ‘crime’ of wanting to join a trade union. They include Mansour’s colleagues, Reza Shahabi and Ebrahim Madadi. For all of them, and us, the fight is not over.” More information and background here and here.
