Iranian opposition leader condemns violent treatment of dissidents

Mansour Osanloo

Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi condemned the "savage treatment" of the families of political detainees by the Islamic Republic government, which according to him did not even exist before the Revolution.

Saham News website reports that today in a visit with Mansour Osanloo's family, Karroubi said: "The savage treatment of people and their families these days is a cruelty that surpasses anything done in the time of the Shah (Iran's last monarch) with all the corruption."

He went on to say to the Osanloo family: "As a member of this regime, I am ashamed of you but please do not attribute these actions to Islam and the Imam (Khomeini).

Mansour Osanloo is one of the union leaders of Tehran public transportation who has been arrested several times since 2005 for his union activities. He was last arrested in 2007 and is still in prison.

In his visit with the Osanloos, Karroubi was told that security forces abducted their daughter-in-law, Zoya Samadi, and subjected her to torture.

Mansour Osanloo's mother told Karroubi: "They beat her severely covering her in bruises and in the late hours of the night threw her out of the car under a bridge."

The Public Transportation Union of Tehran was established in 1968 but its labour activities were halted after the 1979 Revolution and re-started in 2005.

The Islamic Republic has cracked down heavily on all labour activities across the country in the past years and arrested many labour leaders to subdue labour demands.