On 9 April, the Iranian security forces in Saqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, asked well-known working-class activist Mahmoud Salehi (who is former president of the city's Bakery Workers' Association) to attend the local prosecutor's office to negotiate about how May Day would be celebrated.
However, when he arrived, Salehi was told that the Kurdistan Appeal Court had reached the final verdict on his arrest on May Day 2004, when he was charged with various “crimes” including support for the Worker-communist Party of Iran, condemning the government for the murder of worker activists at Khatoonabad and taking part in “illegal gatherings”. He has been sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and three years’ suspended prison sentence, and was arrested immediately and taken to Sanandaj Central Prison.
Salehi has not been allowed to contact his family, his lawyer or his workmates; he was not even allowed to take medication with him, despite his serious kidney problems. According to a statement made by his wife after she visited him in prison on 23 April, his medical situation is now very serious. Meanwhile, workers in Saqez who protested against his detainment have also been arrested.
For more information see
www.workers-iran.org or www.iwsn.org
Sign the petition to free Mahmoud Salehi at
