Campaign to Free Imprisoned Workers Commemorates the Fourth Anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom Revolution
On September 12, 2026 (21 Shahrivar 1405), an online conference was held by the Campaign to Free Jailed Workers (Free Them Now) to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom Revolution, honor the memory of those who lost their lives in the revolution, and protest repression and executions.
The conference coincided with the first day of the week of commemorations marking the anniversary of the revolution, announced by the April Action Secretariat, of which Free Them Now is also a member.
Twenty-four prominent labor and social activists, as well as representatives of major labor unions, participated in the conference. Through their valuable speeches, they commemorated the anniversary of the revolution and spoke about the Mahsa Revolution and its achievements; the government’s repression and its efforts to push back a society that, in various forms, continues to call for the revolution to continue until victory; and the importance of international support and solidarity.
Other topics discussed at the conference included the powerful Justice-Seeking Movement, the movement against imprisonment and execution, and the April Pact Against Execution, which has received 175 signatures from political parties, political forces, and social activists. The uprising of Generation Z to reclaim life in all its dimensions—life that has been seized by an anti-human regime bent on destroying humanity—was another major subject of discussion.
The conference also gave voice to society’s protest against the government’s continued warmongering and the intensification, under its cover, of repression and executions, as well as the regime’s widespread attacks on the livelihoods of the entire population. It also gave voice to the demand for justice of Iran’s 90 million people in response to the killings in Dey and the crimes committed by this regime.
Speakers and Message Contributors
The speakers and contributors to the conference included:
- Shahla Daneshfar, spokesperson for the Campaign to Free Jailed Workers In Iran
- Kazem Nik-Khah, Head of International Relations at Free Them Now
- Azadeh Noman, education-sector union activist and member of the National Education Union (NEU) in England
- Esmail Abdi, human rights activist and former Secretary-General of the Teachers’ Trade Association
- Kourosh Danesh, political activist, syndicalist, and former official of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL)
- Salvatore Mara, Head of International Policy at the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), representing five million members
- Aminah Askari, spokesperson for the Child Rights Defenders Organization
- Behrouz Asadi, member of the Coordinating Committee of the Global Campaign Against the Death Penalty
- Anahita Dowlatabadi, member of the Coordinating Committee of the Global Campaign Against the Death Penalty
- Mahyar Samavish, from the Global Network for the Defense of Political and Security Prisoners
- Azad Salavati, human rights activist and director of the Zagros Human Rights Center
- Hormoz Raha, head of the International Committee Against Execution
- Hassan Salehi, spokesperson for the International Committee Against Execution
- Abbas Mandegar, member of Free Them Now
- Atieh Niknafs, political activist and women’s rights advocate
In addition, a number of invited guests who were unable to participate directly in the conference sent warm messages of solidarity. They included:
- Jesús Gallego García, Head of International Policy at the Spanish Public Services Workers’ Union (960,000 members)
- Eric Lee, founder of the international labor website LabourStart
- Masoud Arjang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Public Service Workers’ Union in Vancouver, British Columbia
- Shiva Mahboubi, spokesperson for the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners
- Shirin Shams, member of the Women’s Revolution movement
- Katie Nugent, member of the leadership committee of Workers’ Liberty
- Andrea Duncan, Vice-President of the Community Social Services sector of the BCGEU, representing 100,000 members
- Stefan Vencisowski, Secretary-General of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, representing 60,000 members through its affiliated local unions in Vancouver
The conference was moderated by Atieh Niknafs on behalf of Channel New TV.
The discussions were broadcast simultaneously via YouTube and Clubhouse, and following the conference, the program was also broadcast on Channel New TV and Woman, Life, Freedom TV.
The Campaign to Free Jailed Workers sincerely thanks everyone who joined and supported this conference.
The link to the full video of the conference on YouTube can be found below:
Campaign to Free Imprisoned Workers
September 15, 2026
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Full Video of the Conference on YouTube
Speech by Salvatore Mara, Representative of the Italian Trade Union and Head of International Policy at the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL)
Message from Stephen von Sychowski , President of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, a regional labour organization with 60,000 unionized workers
Message by Eric Lee: founding Editor the founding editor of LabourStart, the news and campaigning website of the international trade union movement
Message from Kathy Nugent Workers’ Liberty
Message from Jesús Gallego García, Secretariat of International Policy from UGT ) General Union of Workers (with 960,000 members):
Translation in English
Dear friends and comrades,
More than six months have passed since the beginning of the new military aggression by the United States and Israel against Iran—yet another example of the violation of international law, which has included the assassination of political leaders and the killing of thousands of Iranian civilians.
According to some estimates, the damage caused so far has exceeded $400 billion. As a result of this devastation, hundreds of thousands of women and men workers have lost their jobs.
At the same time, the United States has organized a naval blockade against Iran, preventing the entry and exit of goods and restricting the sale of oil. This crisis has affected every aspect of the country’s economic life, with the inflation rate reportedly reaching as high as 300 percent. The national currency has also lost so much of its value that there has been no comparable decline in more than 50 years.
But I would like to remind you that, even before the outbreak of this conflict, the Islamic Republic had brutally and violently suppressed popular protests against the violence and repression of the regime. People who had taken to the streets to protest the worsening conditions of their lives were violently suppressed, arrested, tortured, and killed in an atmosphere of fear and terror.
The Islamic Republic has closed the Strait of Hormuz, and as a result, hundreds of thousands of workers around the world have been affected by the closure of this vital economic route.
Since the beginning of this conflict, all the evidence has shown that this crisis cannot be resolved through military means. There is no alternative to negotiations if we are to bring it to an end.
Yet, under such circumstances, the advocates of war, as they have always done, are seeking to exploit the situation. Israel, on the one hand, is destroying a country and turning it into a state resembling Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and Afghanistan.
A powerful section of the Islamic Republic’s apparatus also seeks to use this situation to intensify the repression of its citizens and establish an increasingly undemocratic government. And the United States, as always, is playing the same role it has always played.
Under these circumstances, war paralyzes every effort by the democratic opposition to operate inside the country, as new obstacles are created every day, while people continue to be arrested, tortured, and killed.
There is only one way to end this war: to listen to the voices of the people of Iran—the workers and working people, the women and men workers of Iran.
The Iranian opposition that presents itself as monarchist is not the solution to this crisis either, because it seeks to restore a repressive and reactionary system that is incompatible with any democratic standards that we recognize.
Therefore, the only solution is to listen to the voices of democratic movements, the voices of Iran’s democratic political parties, and the voices of working women and men.
And for this reason, from here, we call for and advocate dialogue and peace as the only means of ending the destruction of a nation, the killing of hundreds of thousands of people, the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the climate of fear and terror—whether imposed by one side or the other.
You have the full support of the General Union of Workers and Working Women and Men.
We stand with you, and we support your efforts and demands for peace, democracy, rights, and progress.
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