Workers Day Was Bitter; Very Bitter

Mansour Osanloo, president of Iran’s bus drivers’ union, spent international workers day behind prison bars for the fourth consecutive year.  The leading trade union activist in Iran, Osanloo has been convicted to a five-year prison term on national security charges.  Rooz conducted an exclusive interview with Mansour Osanloo’s wife and mother, and the plight of the labor activist and his family.  They say, “Workers Day was bitter; very bitter.”

Osanloo brought the bus drivers’ union to life after 26 years of inactivity.  The trade union was finally able to organize in 2005 and Mansour Osanloo was elected its president.  But that was also the beginning of confrontations with the state  and imprisonments.  

The labor leader has been behind bars since July 17, 2006, after attending the international delivery and transportation trade unions conference in London.  Prison has been very harsh for him; coupled with solitary confinement, beating and torture, and housing with convicted criminals.  At the same time, Osanloo has begun suffering from several health ailments.  

Unlike previous years, the Islamic Republic this year did not allow even the moderate House of Labor organization to hold a rally on the May Day celebrations.  A government-sponsored rally was held, but independent workers who came to the streets in various parts of the country were beaten and harassed by vigilantes and security agents.  Mansour Osanloo’s wife spoke with Rooz and said, “I didn’t have the courage to talk to Mansour about Labor Day.  I preferred to be silent.  I wanted to be silent and not throw salt on his wounds.  I am sure that, under these circumstances, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything even if he was free.  He would have been arrested and taken to prison anyway.”

I asked Mansour’s wife: “How did the Labor Day pass for you and your family this year?” The response was a single word: bitter, very bitter.  Fatemeh Golgazi, Osanloo’s mother had her own words to the situation. “My innocent son is in prison at the Rajaeishahr Prison with murderers and drug smugglers.  Every single day of our life is bitter,” she said.

Mr. Osanloo’s mother described the condition of her life in these terms: “My daughter-in-law works two jobs to provide for me and her children.  But my son is in prison for simply defending labor rights.   He hasn’t done anything wrong.  Mansour’s activities were lawful and he didn’t do anything against the Constitution or national security.”

The president of the bus drivers’ union, who was transferred to the Rajaeishahr Prison in Karaj from Evin Prison in August 25, 2008 is suffering from health ailments.  His wife says, “Mansour is Ward 1 of the Rajaeishahr prison among prisoners convicted of murder or drug smuggling.  Everything that is done to these prisoners is also done to him, although he was arrested for political reasons.  His situation is different from theirs, and he has to be transferred to a ward that is appropriate for his charges.” Political prisoners in Iran have always  been held in separate wards away from regular convicts.

Noting her serious concern for her husband’s health, she told Rooz, “Mansour had a heart surgery and isn’t in a very good condition.  Three of his toes have gone numb.  He also suffers from a genetic-nervous system skin condition.  The prison has made his condition worse and there are wounds all over his body now.”