On October 11, Shahla Daneshfar and Kazem Nikkhah, the spokesperson and head of international relations of Free Them Now (FTN), campaign to free jailed workers in Iran, had a meeting with two officials of the Italian Confederation of labour (CGIL), Salvatore Marra and Mabel Grossi. This meeting was held in connection with the International Day against the Death Penalty and following our previous request and the efforts of Mr Koorosh Danesh, the head of asylum policies of the Confederation. The Italian Labor Confederation has five and a half million members. In this meeting, while appreciating the unwavering support of this confederation for the workers and people of Iran and for the Woman Life Freedom revolution, and specifically supporting Sharifeh Mohammadi, a labor activist who was sentenced to death, a letter addressed to this union confederation was given to them. Its first topic was related to the International Day Against Death Penalty. And in it, some topics included the support of labor union for the nationwide protest movement against executions in Iran, the cancellation of death sentences against activists such as Sharifeh Mohammadi (labor activist), Abbas Derees and Mujahid Korkor, two detainees of the Woman Life Freedom Revolution. This letter also included a call for defending “No Execution Tuesdays”’ campaign by prisoners. We also asked union’s support for Tabas mine workers and condemning the killing of 52 workers in this mine due to the obvious profiteering of the mine owners and the government, and efforts for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned workers, imprisoned teachers and all political prisoners and condemning the Islamic government because of its repressions and crimes and violating the most basic conventions approved by the ILO.
In this meeting, Salvatore Marra, the head of the international policies of the Italian General Labour Confederation, said that the current attempt of this confederation is to expel the representatives of the Islamic Councils and government organizations from ILO and an attempt to have the real representatives of the Iranian workers in this organization, which was approved by us. In addition, we emphasised that it is necessary and important to advance the discourse of expelling the Islamic regime altogether from the ILO. We presented them with a special letter for this campaign, which is signed by a number of labour unions and global activists.
At the end of this meeting, all participants stressed the importance of continuing the contacts and relationship between Free Them Now and the General Confederation of Italian Labour.
In our visit to Rome, we participated in the “Sabeer” festival and conference, the tenth year of which was held from October 10 to 13 and a number of trade unionists from Italy, France, England, and some other countries participated in it regarding racist and fascist policies and activities against the refugees and immigrants. They gave valuable speeches for the refugees and in defence of the refugees’ human rights. In this conference, we contacted some leaders of the unions and arranged future appointments.
Free Them Now (FTN)
