The IFTU executive committee mourns with deepest sorrow and sadness, the murder of its executive committee member, the martyred hero trade union leader Hadi Saleh (Abu Furat), the International Secretary, who was assassinated by Saddam’s loyalists and their terrorist supporters on Tuesday evening 4 January 2005.
Our federation mourns its martyred working class hero who played a significant part in formation of the trade union movement and was a key campaigner in both the Arab and international spheres, over more than a quarter of century, to make the voices of Iraqi workers heard and was a defender of worker rights. Our brave workers are determined to continue the struggle and fight to build a democratic trade union movement and participate in the rebuilding of Iraq despite all the sacrifices and with the knowledge of the great feats achieved by the Iraqi working class and which it continues to pay with its noble blood.
We pledge our martyred hero, that we will continue the struggle and that the terrorists and criminals who tortured assassinated Hadi Saleh will receive their deserved justice.
Our federation demands that the Iraqi interim government and its appropriate bodies take the necessary legal procedures to bring to justice the perpetrators of this vile crime.
Glory and honour to the martyrs of the Iraqi working class
Long live the Iraqi working class
Executive committee
IFTU
5 January 2005
-Statement ends-
Posted at January 6, 2005 09:28 PM