An open letter to ILO General Director, Mr. Guy Ryder
International Labour Organization has been holding it´s 105th session of the international conference in Geneva from 30 May to 10 June 2016.In an open letter to Mr. Guy Ryder, general director of ILO, Executive Board of the Iran Tribunal protested the participation of delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the conference. The delegation was headed by Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Ali Rabie. Ali Rabie was a commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guards in West Azerbaijan from 1979 to 1981 and he was a key member of the Ministry of Intelligence from 1981 to 1989. Hundreds of Kurdish activists and political prisoners were tortured, executed and disappeared in West Azerbaijan during the time Ali Rabie was in charge of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and Ministry of Intelligence in that province.
The letter stated that:”It is with great regret to note that you have welcomed and shared a platform with Mr. Rabie, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Minister of Labour and Welfare.
You may be aware that Mr. Rabie, as a member of the Ministry of Intelligence and Social Security and commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in West Azerbaijan Province (1979-1989) was responsible for the torture and murders of members of the opposition and asphyxiation of a score of Kurdish prisoners during their transportation.
Iran’s treatment of labour activists falls well below the required standards. The suppression of labour movements is chronicled in the quarterly reports of Dr A Shaheed, Special UN Rapporteur on Human Rights. In his recent report to the UN General Assembly dated 6 October 2015, Mr. Shaheed provides details of the suppression of labour movement in paragraphs 31-34 of his report. Many labour union leaders are languishing in Iranian prisons simply for trying to defend the rights of fellow workers in Iran. Mr Rabie has been the main enforcer of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s repressive labour laws and he should have been denied access to the ILO platform, let alone sharing it with the Director General of this organisation.
The Iran Tribunal defends the rights of victims and survivors of Iran’s political prisoners.”