Mousavi issues message for Iranian workers and teachers

MirHosein Mousavi

MirHosein Mousavi, the disputing candidate of the June presidential elections in Iran announced once more that without “competitive elections”, release of all political prisoners and freedom of all labour and national organizations, the political problems of Iran cannot be resolved.

The former prime minister went on to criticize the government for trying to resolve the country's problems through “handouts, empty promises and a series of advertising efforts.”

In a video message on occasion of International Worker’s Day and National Day of Teachers on May 1 and 2 respectively, the opposition leader said that Iran is suffering from a widespread political, economic and social crisis which directly affects the lives of workers and teachers of the country.

He also maintained that the banning of newspapers, restrictions on the activities of labour and political groups as well as continued arrest of activists are also influential in the fate of workers and teachers.

While thousands of people have been arrested in the past year for protests against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which the opposition claims was secured through ballot fraud, security forces have also banned and restricted activities of political and labour organizations.

Mousavi stressed: “It is vital that teachers and workers realize that the problems they face in their day to day life is a direct result of the general and current problems of the country.”

MirHosein Mousavi maintained that the Green Movement will proceed through “a return to the Constitution.” He added: “If there are sections of the Constitution that we feel lack relevancy, we can proceed in changing them through this very Constitution because the Constitution is not absolute.”

He focused the sections of the Constitution regarding people’s rights and maintained: “These forgotten principles will resolve the country’s problems one by one and improve the situation and position of workers and teachers at the same time.”