June15,2022
His situation is urgent
According to the reports published on social media, Valeh Zamani, a well-known labor activist and an oil worker who was fired last year for participating in a nationwide strike, has been arrested in Urmia city in north west of Iran, by the security forces on May 31. He has been transferred to Ward 240 of notorious Evin Prison in Tehran..
In this regard, his brother Saber Zamani, while reporting this news on his Instagram today, expressed his deep concern and wrote:
“My brother Valeh Zamani, a labor activist, was arrested by security forces in Urmia city on May 31, and after three days he was transferred to Ward 240 of Evin Prisonin, in Tehran and he is currently in solitary confinement. Due to his acute lung and liver disease and his recent surgery, his health is in serious danger and he needs to be treated urgently. So the Islamic Republic is responsible for any risk to his life, and I ask all human rights and labor institutions to be the voice of him. Working long time in oil centers in Assaluyeh town, Valeh has got lung and stomach diseases, and after surgery, due to hospital contamination, he developed acute liver disease, too. If he left untreated, according the hospital doctors there is a possibility of complete liver failure. The regime’s criminals have taken Valeh Zamani to prison while he was under treatment and interrogated him in solitary confinement”.
This is in fact the indictment of the Valeh Zamani’s family against the criminal act of the Islamic regime. Free Them Now, the Campaign to free jailed workers in Iran shares Valeh Zamani’s family’s concerns and, in unison with her brother and family, calls on everyone to raise their voices in protest of these criminal repressions against the workers in Iran. The situation of Valeh Zamani is an example of a disaster that prevails the conditions of the oil workers and other workers in unsuitable working environments, and reflects the non-standard and unsafe working conditions in Iran. This issue should become the subject of protest of all oil workers.
Free Them Now calls on all the international trade unions and humanitarian institutions to react immediately to this criminal act of the Islamic regime and the arrest of a labor activist who is struggling with a very dangerous illness and has been under medical treatment. Please write letters of protest to the Islamic authorities and ask for his immediate release,
Valen Zamani is not the only example. The recent large-scale arrests of teachers and worker- activists in connection with the arrests of two French citizens and fabricating an espionage case against them, is another recent plot against the workers and teachers. The arrested teachers and workers are under severe interrogation and torture. Eskandar Lotfi one of the jailed teachers is on hunger strike since days ago, protesting his situation in prison and the plots and conspiracies against him. Reza Shahabi another well-known worker activist from Vahed bus Company union is suffering from different physical illnesses and needs urgent treatment.
The situation of Vale Zamani, Reza Shahabi and Eskandar Lotfi is very urgent and Free Them Now calls on all unions and humanitarian organizations around the world including Amnesty International to take immediate and urgent action in this regard.
You can:
– Write a letter to the Islamic regime’s authorities, strongly condemn their criminal act, give them an ultimatum that if anything happens to Valeh Zamani or Reza Shahabi, and Eskandar Lotfi, the Islamic government is accountable, and demand their immediate and unconditional release.
– Give warning to ILO to stop appeasing the Islamic regime and to stop these crimes by intervening and to work for the immediate release of the workers and teachers who are in poor physical condition and all political prisoners.
The Islamic government should be expelled from ILO and all international institutions for violating the most basic rights of workers, teachers and the people.
Shahla Daneshfar, Spokesperson of Free Them Now (FTN)