Iranian trade unionist Reza Shahabi has been released on bail, his public transport workers’ union said.
Reza Shahabi
The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTSBC) announced on Tuesday May 7 that its two other members, Hasan Saeedi and Rasoul Taleb Moghadam are still in ward 209 of the Evin prison.
Reza Shahabi and dozens of labor activists were arrested during May Day, while they were gathering outside the Iranian parliament in Tehran.
On May 2, Iran’s National Teachers’ Day, an unidentified number of Iranian teachers also were arrested after they gathered in front of local offices of the Education Ministry in several cities to protest against government policies. Among them were the head of Tehran’s Teachers’ Union and its other high-ranking members.
Since January 2019, a new wave of arrests has started when the government of Iran launched a major crackdown on the labor rights activists and workers.
Reza Shahabi was treasurer of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company when he was arrested in 2010.
He was charged with “actions against national security” and then sentenced to six years in prison.
Since then he has been in and out of prison several times.