Comrades and workmates of my father, Mahmoud Salehi! Today the Islamic Republic once again arrested my father!
Workers, freedom-loving people of the world, trade unions and human rights organisations throughout the world!
Today, Monday 9 April 2007, at 12:30 one of the officers of the Saghez security force went to where Mahmoud Salehi (my father) works and told my father that the Governor and the Prosecutor would like to talk to him about this year's May Day ceremonies. My father, because of his inherent honesty, was deceived by this lie and went to courthouse with this officer.
Immediately after he entered the courthouse my father realised that this had nothing to do with the issue of [this year's] May Day! Instead this was about the May Day celebration of 2004 and the four year sentence passed against him. Recently the appeal court changed the sentence to one year in custody and three years suspended, which the legal authorities are, in an illegal way, trying to implement. The legal authorities, despite my father and mother's protests, and my father's refusal to sign the summons and without paying any attention to his appeals and protests, immediately used severe security measures. Several officers surrounded him and bundled him into a car. The car carrying my father was escorted by several police vehicles and with a frightening speed left town for an undisclosed destination. My father is the first person who has had his sentence carried out in this way and transferred to prison immediately. The summons is supposed to have been given to him beforehand so that he could prepare himself for it.
Friends, the aim of the Islamic Republic in carrying out this sentence in this way is not just to imprison my father. But what is clearly involved is the fear of the authorities from independent International Workers' Day celebrations in Saghez this year.
Dear [friends], the way in which my father's sentence was carried out clearly broke the law. Nowhere in the world is it customary to have the Prosecutor issue a summons, to have it approved by the same person and for the appeal judge to also be the same person. For this reason I ask all you workers, freedom-loving people of the world, human rights organisations, Lawyers Without Borders, legal experts and freedom-loving human beings, to protest against my father's sentence and the way the sentence was carried out. Support my father who has committed no crime other than defend himself and members of his class. We want to have a life worthy of today's human beings!
Samerand Salehi
Son of Mahmoud Salehi
9 April 2007
Translated by Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network