<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1578" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>UPDATE ON JAILED IRANIAN UNION LEADER We told you last week about the arrest of Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the bus drivers union in Tehran.  Your response has been excellent -- over 2,500 of you have already sent messages to the Iranian President demanding his release. We've now gotten some more details, and they make for grim reading. We know that Oslanloo has been taken to Evin prison where authorities claim that they are "negotiating" with him.  (How you can negotiate with someone who you've arrested is an interesting question.) The authorities also claim that he will be allowed one visitor, his mother -- but no one has told the guards outside the prison.  His mother waited in vain for a chance to see her son. His family has not even been allowed to phone him. Clearly the authorities are hoping to break his will -- and thereby weaken the emerging trade union movement in Iran. Remember that this is a movement which managed to completely shut down the capital with a transport strike earlier in the year, despite massive repression. It is essential that we turn up the pressure and flood the Iranian government with more messages this week.  Please make sure to send on your message today -- and to pass this letter on! English: <A href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=167">http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=167</A></DIV> <DIV>____________________________________ Travis W Fast </DIV></BODY></HTML>