Campaign archive · 2007–2008

Free Mansour
Osanloo.

An international campaign launched in 2007–2008 to demand the immediate release of Mansour Osanloo, president of the independent Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers’ Syndicate — the Vahed union.

Add your name See how to act

Vahed SyndicateITF · ITUCAmnestyILO rightsTehran bus workers

The prisoner

Osanloo was seized in July 2007, weeks after speaking to unions in London and Brussels.

The campaign

Global action days, embassy vigils, and letters coordinated by ITUC, ITF, and Amnesty.

The demand

Immediate, unconditional release — and recognition of a genuine workers’ organisation.

Your part

Write, rally, and keep his name in public until the cell door opens.

City bus — the workplace of the Vahed Syndicate

Free
him
now

Who he is

A bus workers’ president, not a security case.

Mansour Osanloo (also spelled Ossanlu) leads the Vahed Syndicate, the independent union of Tehran and suburbs bus workers. In July 2007, three weeks after addressing ITF and ITUC meetings in London and Brussels, he was taken off a bus near his home. Courts later handed down five years on charges of “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the state.”

Independent union

Vahed organised after Islamic Labour Councils failed bus workers — including the January 2006 strike.

International voice

His crime was speaking to fellow transport unions abroad, then going home to his members.

Health at risk

Beating and detention damaged his sight. Campaigners pressed for hospital care, not more interrogation.

How to act

Keep the pressure public.

Filter by letters, street action, or press. This is the 2007–2008 playbook unions used worldwide.

Handwritten campaign letters stacked for posting

Letters to missions

Write Iranian embassies and the ILO. Name Osanloo. Ask for unconditional release.

WriteMissions

Newspapers covering international labour news

Union resolutions

Pass a branch motion. Forward it to ITF, ITUC, and your foreign ministry.

WriteUnions

Crowd at an outdoor solidarity demonstration

Embassy vigils

Global action days in 2007 and 2008 brought transport unions to Iranian missions.

StreetVigil

Workplace photos

Drivers, dockers, and rail staff held “Free Osanloo” signs on shift — then mailed the pictures.

StreetSolidarity

Public speaker addressing a labour audience

Brief the press

One fact sheet: abduction date, five-year sentence, damaged eyesight, Vahed’s 2006 strike.

PressFacts

Name fellow prisoners

Ebrahim Madadi, Mahmoud Salehi, and other Vahed executive members faced the same machine.

PressVahed

Why 2007–2008

A local union case became a world file.

ITUC, ITF, and Amnesty declared global days of action. This site is the campaign desk from those years: keep Osanloo’s name public, keep the Vahed Syndicate recognised as a real union, and refuse the story that organising bus workers is a security crime.

ITFITUCAmnestyILO conventionsVahed Syndicate

Timeline

Three beats that built the campaign.

01 · 2006

The strike

Vahed bus workers walked out. Dismissals followed. Osanloo was already a marked president.

02 · July 2007

The abduction

Security men pulled him from a bus near home after the London and Brussels union meetings.

03 · 2008

One year on

Amnesty, ITF, and ITUC marked the anniversary: still jailed, workers still repressed.

Our demands

Release him. Recognise the union.

The campaign’s ask has not changed since 2007: stop treating independent organising as a national-security file.

01Immediate release

Osanloo and fellow unionists, including Ebrahim Madadi and Mahmoud Salehi, must walk free.

02Recognise Vahed

The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company is a genuine workers’ organisation.

03Reinstate the dismissed

End punishment of bus workers linked to the January 2006 strike and later solidarity.

04ILO core rights

Freedom of association is not propaganda against the state. Iran should honour the conventions.

Contact

Add your name. Keep his public.

Email [email protected] or use this form for solidarity notes, branch resolutions, and material requests.

Full name

Organisation / union

How you will act

Region

Message

We use this form only to log solidarity and send the 2007–2008 action pack.

FAQ

Before you write a letter.

Who he is, what we demand, and how the 2007–2008 campaign worked.

Who is Mansour Osanloo?

Mansour Osanloo (also Ossanlu) is president of the Vahed Syndicate, the independent union of Tehran and suburbs bus workers. He was abducted in July 2007 after attending ITF and ITUC meetings in London and Brussels.

What is this campaign?

Free Osanloo is an international campaign created in 2007–2008 to demand his immediate and unconditional release, alongside respect for ILO core labour rights in Iran.

What are we asking for?

Immediate release of Osanloo and fellow unionists; recognition of the Vahed Syndicate; an end to dismissals and intimidation of bus workers who organised in 2006.

How can I act?

Write to Iranian missions, join ITUC/ITF/Amnesty action days, and send a solidarity note through this site. Unions worldwide organised global days of action in 2007 and 2008.