Iranian trade unionist Mahmoud Salehi, imprisoned following his attendance of peaceful celebrations of May Day in 2004, currently requires urgent medical attention as he struggles with chronic kidney disease.

He was found guilty of ‘conspiring to commit crimes against national security’ and has subsequently been identified as a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International, who believe he has been imprisoned solely for his peaceful trade union activities.

Iran habitually flouts international labour law, including conventions by which it has agreed to be bound (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, various conventions of the International Labour Organisation, et cetera). In addition to publically celebrating May Day, Mahmoud Salehi appears to have been jailed for his work as a spokesperson for Iran’s Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions and for meeting officials of the International Trade Union Confederation (which includes Britain’s TUC among its affiliates).

He’s reported to have been roughly treated as he and twenty to thirty other prisoners were moved to a different section of Sanandaj Central Prison, to have been shackled while hospitalised (in violation of United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners) and heavily tranquilised since.

Mahmoud Salehi has not received visits from lawyers, but he has been allowed to speak to his family by telephone. You can help by clicking this link to Amnesty International. Within a few clicks of that, you’ll have emailed an appeal to the Iranian authorities reminding them of their obligations under international law and requesting that Mahmoud Salehi receives the medical attention he needs as a matter of urgency.

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