Iran Abducts Union Man : Amir Taheri

One of Iran's most popular civil-society leaders was abducted in Tehran on Tuesday after chairing a meeting of trade unionists. Mansour Osanloo, the 48-year-old president of the Union of Bus Drivers (SKSV), had just stepped off a bus when a group of bearded men emerged from a gray Peugeot and attacked him with clubs and knuckle-dusters. Shouting, "You are an enemy of Islam," the attackers pushed him into the car and drove away. Witnesses said Osanloo was severely beaten, and his attackers continued to beat him even after they had forced him into their car. Passengers on the bus, which had halted, tried to restrain the attackers but were held back at gunpoint. Osanloo's friends and relatives say that secret-service agents had followed him round the clock since his return from Europe last month. On that visit, he addressed a number of international labor meetings in London, Brussels and Geneva. In 2004, Osanloo helped create one of the first independent trade unions in Iran since the mullahs' 1979 seizure of power. He has led two successful transit-worker strikes, forcing the state-owned bus company to offer concessions. Other workers have followed his example, creating over 400 independent trade unions with an estimated 1.5 million members. Earlier this year, the independent unions set up the Workers' Organizations and Activists Coordinating Council (WOACC) to foster unity of action. On May 1 (International Labor Day) the WOACC held the first independent workers' marches in Tehran and 11 other major cities since 1979. Osanloo, regarded by some as "Iran's Lech Walesa," has been abducted by paramilitaries working for the government before. He's also been imprisoned twice, including a spell at Evin, the dreaded "Islamic Alcatraz." Osanloo has been careful not to give Iran's emerging labor movement a political coloring, but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regards the union leader as a threat, for the authorities fear the growth of an independent labor movement. Workers in independent unions are still no more than 5 percent of wage earners in Iran. Most workers are either not unionized or drafted as members of unions controlled via so-called "Islamic committees."

Union Wants Release of Iranian Activist : July 12, 2007 The Associated Press Robert Barr

LONDON -- The International Transport Workers' Federation has appealed for the release of an Iranian union leader who reportedly was kidnapped earlier this week in Tehran. Mansour Osanloo, leader of a bus workers union, ``is still in custody somewhere by agents unknown,'' federation spokesman Sam Dawson said Thursday. The Associated Press was unable to contact any member of his family in Tehran for information on the case. Osanloo, 47, president of the Sandikaye Kargarane Sherkate Vahed (Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company), was accosted by several men as he stepped off a bus Tuesday evening, the federation said, quoting information from its Iranian affiliate. ``Given the past history of Osanloo's treatment by the security forces there is strong reason to believe that some part of the Iranian authorities was responsible for this attack, but the local police station, to which his family turned, refused to confirm or deny that the police were involved,'' the federation said in a statement. ``We demand an immediate and unconditional release of Mansour Osanloo,'' said David Cockroft, the federation's general secretary. ``ITF affiliates and the global trade union leaders who met him at the recent ITUC General Council meeting in Brussels, and the International Labor Organization will all protest against this blatant violation of human and trade union rights and will take whatever action is necessary to secure the immediate release of Mansour Osanloo.'' The federation said Osanloo was released in August last year after seven months in detention. He was arrested again on Nov. 19 and released a month later, and was briefly detained on May 1 this year, the federation said. Amnesty International said Osanloo was released in August after posting bail equivalent to $163,000 while awaiting trial on unknown charges.