Reza Shahabi, a prominent Iranian labor activist sent a message from prison detailing human rights violations and thanked the people and labor activists for their continuing support.
His letter reads in part:
The abuse against me and my family started in 2000, when plainclothes agents arrested me in front of my passengers while I was driving under the false charge of armed robbery. The abuse has still not ended to this day.
For 19 months I was in a solitary cell in Evin Prison’s Section 209 where I was subjected to the most violent physical and mental torture and was threatened with execution several times.
During these years, I’ve had several surgeries and had medical treatments and for the sake of having my voice heard, I have had to go on hunger strikes for long periods.
For what reason? Why must a worker be treated like this for defending his minimum rights and those of his colleagues and also put his life and his family in danger?
They thought they could intimidate the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Worker’s Syndicate and other independent workers’ organizations in the area by suppressing them and creating fear.
It has never been such and will not be.
My condition is still not clear and though the authorities have given their word to put a stop to (to my current state in prison), I am still in prison without proper medical care. The support of my respected inmates, my dear family and wife, my hard-working colleagues from the Syndicate and the support from workers and workers’ rights defenders in Iran and the world is the only thing that will guarantee my freedom and that of others like me.
Reza Shahabi
Rajaie Shahr Prison – Karaj
Oct. 20, 2017
