WORKER’S WOES IN IRAN

"Mansour Osanloo, who heads the Tehran bus workers' union, was thrown into the infamous Evin prison for the third time last month, after a highly successful European trip on which he tried to inform his Western trade-union brothers of the mounting repression against Iranian workers.

During his previous incarcerations, Osanloo had been brutally tortured. Films were distributed showing bruises on his body, and his tongue had been slit.

One of Osanloo's fellow union organizers, Mahmoud Salehi of the Saqez Bakery Workers' Association, has been jailed in the city of Sanandaj (Kurdistan Province), where he is said to be in serious medical difficulties.

The International Trade Union Confederation and the International Transport Workers' Federation have appropriately called for pickets, protests, and letter-writing campaigns demanding the release of these two brave men.

So far as I know, no labor union is planning to demonstrate for them in this country, and certainly the American government has not said a word on their behalf."

-- Michael Ledeen

Tis a good thing Bush isn't president of Iran, then things would really be bad over there.