Cc: Leader of the Islamic Republic:
Ayatollah Sayed *Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street
Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir OR istiftaa@wilayah.org
Fax: 011 98 251 7774 2228

Head of the Judiciary:
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building
Panzdah-Khordad Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 21 3390 4986 (may be difficult to reach)
Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir

Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Institutions in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland,

Fax: +41 22 733 02 03, E-mail: mission.iran@ties.itu.int

info@workers-iran.org

August 13, 2008

Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: + 98 21 649 58 80
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir

Dear Mr. Ahmadinejad:

I am writing on behalf of the 56,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to express our strong displeasure over the recent whipping sentences and jail terms against labour activists in Iran. CUPW has been informed that Ms. Sousan Razani and Ms. Shiva Kheirabadi each were sentenced to 4 months imprisonment and 15 lashes; Mr. Abdullah Khani was sentenced to 91 days prison and 40 lashes and Mr. Seyed Qaleb Hosseini was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and 50 lashes. The verdict was issued by the Criminal Court of Sanandaj – branch 101. The above labour activists are sentenced so severely only because of their participation in 2008 May Day celebration in Sanandaj. In addition, Mr. Khaled Hosseini, a worker activist, was sentenced to 91 days suspended jail and 30 lashes because of his efforts in support of Mahmoud Salehi who was imprisoned at the time.

CUPW has also been informed that on July 20, 2008, Mr. Farzad Kamangar was sentenced to death after having a seven minutes trial. A number of individuals and organizations from Iran and abroad have protested his detention and the recent death sentence against him but your government has disregarded all these pleas.

Another activist, Mr. Afshin Shams, was arrested in July 2008. Mr. Shams is a labour activist, a member of “Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ organizations”, a member of the “Committee in Dense of Mahmoud Salehi” and a member of ”Caricaturists Society”.

There have been other arrests and charges against labour and social activists in Iran as well as dismissal of labour activists, including the recent dismissal verdict against nine members of the bus workers syndicate.

The above arrests and other actions are an attack on working people everywhere. CUPW is strongly urging your government to unconditionally and immediately repeal all charges and sentences against labour activists in Iran.

Once again, we are also calling for the freedom of Mansour Osanloo, the president of Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, who has been imprisoned since July 2007 and is serving a five year jail term.

CUPW is asking your government to recognize workers’ rights to all workers in Iran, including the rights to organize freely and to strike.

In Solidarity,
Denis Lemelin
National President