The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) has obtained the following photographs of a disabled man tortured and shot by Iranian security forces (see bottom of this article).
Although BAFS rarely publishes the horrific pictures it regularly receives from Iran, the group feels that the enormity of the problem facing the Ahwazi Arabs is being ignored by the international community. We believe that the world will only act to stop the ethnic cleansing of Ahwazi Arabs, an oppressed minority in a region that supplies 10 per cent of OPEC oil, when it is confronted by the gruesome evidence of the Iranian regime's ethnic cleansing programme.
The pictures at the bottom of this article are of Seyed Sultan Albu-Shokeh, a 45 year old farmer from Falahya (Shadegan) who was recently murdered by the security forces. He was an amputee and it is believed that he lost his leg when he stepped on a landmine; Khuzestan has one of world's worst landmine amputee records in the world, due to the amount of unexploded ordnance left by the Iran-Iraq War. He was accused of being a member of a banned Ahwazi Arab political party and was killed i cold blood by the regime as part of its "anti-terrorism" operations. He was shot in the head through the jaw. His left leg, the lower portion of which has a prosthetic limb, also has bullet holes.
The Iranian authorities demanded 30 million rails (US$3,300) for the price of the bullets that killed him and 500 million (US$55,000) for the return of the body to his family for burial. The demands are well beyond the means of any Ahwazi Arab, particularly farmers. Since his murder, his brother has been arrested and has disappeared. He has not been properly buried by the family, although the regime claims to uphold Islamic values which place great importance on funeral rites.
Nasser Bani Assad, BAFS spokesman, said: "Khuzestan is a bloodbath. The only reason for this man's death is his ethnicity. He was crippled, so how could he be a threat to anyone? Why is the regime demanding ransoms for dead bodies? On what basis is it holding Ahwazi children as young as two years old in prison? Why are pregnant Ahwazi women being tortured in Sepidar prison? The answer is that this is collective punishment of Ahwazis for their political opposition to the regime. This represents the most vile intimidation by a murderous government that is being appeased by the European Union."
Please note: reproduction of photographs from this website is permitted, but please remember to credit British Ahwazi Friendship Society.
Labels: human rights
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