Mansour Osanloo

Mansour Osanloo (Osaloo) is a leading trade union activist in Iran, where he has been imprisoned several times from 2005 to 2008. Osanloo was then held in Evin Prison, serving a five-year prison sentence, and freed in June 2013. He is a founding member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, an independent union that has been campaigning vigorously for workers’ rights.

Osanloo is President of the Executive Committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTSBC), the transport workers' trade union in Tehran in Iran.

In December 2005 bus drivers in Tehran were refusing to take passengers' fares, as a protest called by both Osanloo and the SWTSBC. He and his colleagues could build up again their syndicate (union) after 24 years. In June 2005 (13 Khordad 1384) with great effort and resistance. This led to the arrest of several union activists on December 22, including Osanloo. He was imprisoned more than seven months, and suffered torture.

Tehran bus workers were due to strike on 28 January 2006 calling for his release and other demands. However, early that morning, hundreds of union activists were arrested as were the families of many of the workers.

The Scottish Socialist Party tabled a motion calling for his release before the Scottish Parliament. He was released on bail in July/August 2006 after being kept in solitary confinement for months. After that, he continued his duty with co workers to reestablish their rights.

According to eyewitness accounts, Osanloo was arrested for a second time on November 19, 2006 under very suspicious circumstances, along with Ebrahim Madadi, the vice-president of SWTSBC. Osanloo and Madadi were beaten by a group of armed militia and were taken away after shots were fired into the air. This seems to be another case where special police and state-sponsored undercover security named Ansar-e Hezbollah are used in arresting and silencing social and political activists.

In November 2006 he was released on bail of £164,000. He was sentenced to a five-year prison term in March 2007. However, he was allowed to travel to London, England for the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) conference and to Brussels, Belgium for a meeting with the International Trade Union Confederation(ITUC) in June 2007.

...
Wikipedia