Free Esmail Jafari!

Esmail Jafari is a journalist as well as a theatre director and actor. He was formerly a worker at the Sadra shipyard in Bushehr (southern Iran).

The security forces arrested him during the recent strike and protests by Sadra shipbuilding workers. He has been held at the Information Ministry's Bushehr province HQ since early April and severely tortured. The authorities are putting him under pressure so that he admits to having had contacts with various oppositionist groups. They have charged him with a number of 'crimes', including taking photographs of the Sadra workers' protest in front of the Bushehr governor's office and filing a report; being in contact with oppositionist groups and spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic.

According to some unofficial reports Esmail Jafari is close to breaking point and may be forced into making a false confession. Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network will be campaigning for Esmail Jafari's immediate and unconditional release.

Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network
27 April 2008