TUC protests at execution of Iranian teacher and trade unionist Farzad Kamangar

Solidarity with Iranian trade unionists

Execution of Farzad Kamangar

May 2010

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has written to the Iranian Ambassador to protest at the execution on Sunday 9 May of Farzad Kamangar, Iranian teacher and trade unionist, on the charge of 'enmity against God'.

His letter is part of a growing international trade union campaign - and union and individual protest action is likely to be mobilised later this week.

For more information, see the International Trade Union Confederation's press release and letter to the Iranian Government, as well as Education International's statement.

Brendan Barber's letter in full

HE Mr Rasoul Movahedian

Ambassador

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran

16 Prince's Gate

London SW7 1PT

Dear Ambassador

The execution of Farzad Kamangar, teacher and trade unionist

I am writing to you on behalf of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the national centre for British trade unions, with 58 affiliated unions and 6.3 million members, to protest at the execution on Sunday of teacher and trade unionist Farzad Kamangar.

The TUC has been informed that Farzad Kamangar, together with four other prisoners, was executed on Sunday 9 May. He was sentenced after a court process which did not meet international or Iranian standards for a fair trial.

The TUC is opposed to the death penalty and unequivocally condemns the execution. It also denounces the inhumane treatment of Farzad Kamangar's family, who were not even informed before the execution took place. On Mother's Day, his mother was not even allowed to say goodbye to him.

The TUC has consistently denounced the persistent repression of trade unionists and all Iranians who do not share the views of the government. The brutal execution of Farzad Kamangar confirms the repressive nature of the Iranian regime, and your government's complete lack of respect for international obligations or human rights.

The TUC will support the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), to which we are affiliated, in its complaint to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association about this gross violation of the principles of the ILO.

The TUC will call on its affiliates to denounce this inhumane act, and show solidarity with our Iranian brothers and sisters. In that respect, we continue to express concern about the other teachers and trade unionists languishing in Iran's jails, such as bus workers leaders Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi.

I cannot emphasise enough the damage that this execution has done to the reputation of Iran and your government.

I urge you to let your government know how abhorrent British people feel this execution to have been, and urge your government to halt any further escalation of trade union repression and human rights abuses against trade union members.

Yours sincerely

BRENDAN BARBER

General Secretary

Copied to:

• Rt Hon David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• Clive Betts MP, Secretary, All Party Parliamentary Group on Iran