The mullahs’ regime has imprisoned Mr. Osanlou in Ward 4 of the Gohardasht prison in Karaj (western Tehran). He suffers from a number of ailments including heart, eyes, liver, and back pain. Due to a recent vein stenosis he is in critical state at the moment. The regime has refused to provide him even with the minimum of medical care, despite the fact that the regime’s physicians have thus far stressed on a number of occasions that Mr. Osanlou would not be able to tolerate prison conditions. In August 2008, the regime’s henchmen transferred Mr. Osanlou to Ward 4, which is allocated to dangerous prisoners, in order to impose more pressure on him. Recently, by increasing the number of prisoners in the ward, conditions have become even more intolerable.
Mr. Oslanlou, who is one of the founders of the Greater Tehran Bus Drivers’ Union, has been jailed a number of times since 2005 for his efforts in defense of workers’ rights. After his latest arrest in July 2007, he was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security,” and organizing workers strikes and protests.
The Iranian Resistance warns that the life of Mr. Osanlou is in serious danger, and calls on all international authorities, human rights organizations, international workers’ unions, in particular the International Transport Workers’ Federation, to condemn the suppression and torture of political prisoners especially the imprisoned workers. The Resistance also calls for dispatch of an international delegation to investigate the plight of Mr. Mansour Osanlou and take urgent measures to save his life and get him released.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 23, 2009