Iran: workers' voices will not be silenced

The Iranian regime has jailed another trade unionist in its continuing, and unsuccessful, attempt to get workers to shut up about the repression and exploitation they suffer.

Reza Shahabi, Treasurer of the bus workers' union in Tehran, has been sentenced to six years in jail and banned from union activity for a further five years. The sentence was handed down by a 'Revolutionary' court, ie one without the usual standards of evidence and proof - this is the way Iran usually controls dissident voices.

The sentence is a clear violation of Reza's right to freedom of association, and the global trade union movement will challenge it at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference this summer.

Iran cannot be allowed to continue to demand that workers show loyalty only to the state-run unions and crush any independent or free trade unionism.