Reza Shahabi

Reza Shahabi grew up in the city of Shabestar in the province of East Azerbaijan. He began work while still at school to support his family and worked as a driver for the Tehran and Suburb Bus Company before graduating high school.Like other unionists in Iran, he grew exasperated with the Workers House. This body, which is supposed to promote the interests of workers across the country, has, under the Islamic Republic, become a force for stifling labour movements rather than protecting them.In 1991, the Workers House organized a specialized “Islamic Labor Council of Tehran Bus Company” to defend the rights of the companys drivers and workers. But, according to the Tehran and Suburb Bus Companys Workers Union, not only was the council ineffective, but it actually acted as an obstacle to the fulfilment of their demands.In 2004, Reza Shahabi, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, assisted by the Founding Board of Labor Unions, resurrected the TSBCs Workers Union 27 years after the regime banned its activities. The founding charter was based on the constitution of the International Labor Organization.In 2005, Shahabi was elected to the unions Executive Committee. After the union started its activities, its members were subjected to repeated threats, and when they balloted for their first strike, several committee members were arrested. That December, Shahabi and others went on strike to protest the detentions. As a result, he, too, was arrested and held for several days.After another strike on January 28, 2006, Reza Shahabi and several other drivers were sacked. They repeatedly complained to the Ministry of Labor, demanding to be reinstated, to no avail. Shahabi went on to study law, driving a gipsy cap to make ends meet and continuing his union activities.In 2009, a government commission responsible for investigating administrative violations reinstated Shahabi in his former role with the Tehran Bus Company, plus back pay. But the following June, he was arrested at work and taken to Evin Prison. For eight months, he was interrogated and pushed to confess to working with opposition groups to “bring down the Islamic Republic”.On May 25, 2011, the notorious “judge” Abolghasem Salavati sentenced Shahabi to one year in prison for “propaganda against the regime” and five years for “conspiracy to act against national security”. He was also ordered to return the wages that he had received for the period he had been unemployed.Shahabi spent 22 months in prison waiting for a verdict from the Court of Appeal. He went on hunger strike several times during that period. Finally, on April 14, 2012, his sentence was reduced to four years – but with a new, fiveyear ban on union activities.While Shahabi was in detention, his mother died of heart disease. He was not granted leave to attend the burial. In late 2012 he received a temporary medical furlough after going on a hunger strike for 23 days and went to Imam Khomeini Hospital for back surgery. In the latter case, officials changed their minds, and he was taken back to prison in the middle of the night untreated.In a separate case that became known as Evins “Black Thursday”, Judge Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Shahabi to an additional year and 91 days in prison. Finally, he and several others were rearrested for taking part in a May Day parade in 2019.