After 14 days, with the [growing] pressure of public opinion, five more people arrested on May Day, International Labour Day, have been released.
Yesterday, May 13, five women - Sharifeh Mohammadi, Fatemeh Shahnazari, Samiyeh Navab, Fatemeh Eghdami and Nasrin Rajavi - who were arrested in Tehran's Laleh Park on International Labour Day, were released on bail. Currently there are nine women in the methadone hall and one woman in the public wing of Evin prison. The charges against those arrested include propaganda against the [Islamic Republic’s] system - a charge they have rejected.
The women have so far been interrogated three times and the last interrogation was very harsh and prolonged, lasting from 3pm until 10pm.
The families of the arrested women were told that bail had been set for all of them but just five have been given the legal notice. It should be mentioned that there is no information about the arrested men and that they have not been in contact with their families.
The Pursuit Committee for the Formation of Free Labour Organisations, while congratulating these civil activists on their release and wishing them happiness, demands the immediate and unconditional release of the rest of the International Labour Day detainees.
Pursuit Committee for the Formation of Free Labour Organisations
14 May 2009
Translated by Iranian Workers’ Solidarity Network
For more information on the May Day arrests see the special page.