Wednesday 15 October 2008

Free Mansour Osanloo

In a rainy Brussels, where Gordon Brown is seeking a new Bretton Woods to reconstruct the global financial system.

In the European Parliament tonight, the Silver Rose Awards marked the 60th anniversary of SOLIDAR,the pan-European network of civil society and labour movement organisations working for social justice.

The International Solidarity Silver Rose Award, presented by John Monks, was awarded to the Iranian trade union, Syndica Sherkat-e Vahed, which represents the workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company. The union founded in 1968 was disbanded by the revolutionary government in 1979. Re-established in 2005, it has struggled against government repression and violence.

But the union's President Mansour Osanloo could not be in Brussels, as he was imprisoned last Autumn for five years for 'endangering national security'. The award may help to raise the profile of his case and of trade unions in Iran.

To find out more, watch the video 'Freedom will come: the story of Mansour Osanloo' on YouTube.

You can support the ITF campaign at www.freeosanloo.org

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