Iran's pro-regime media have confirmed that a further 20 Ahwazis blamed for leading unrest in Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan) in April 2005 have been referred to tribunal court to confirm death sentences against them.
According to a government spokesman, these death sentences are separate from previous sentences. The Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) has stated that 16 Ahwazis have already had their death sentences confirmed and are likely to be executed after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. All 36 Ahwazis have been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court 3 in Ahwaz City.
The pro-regime media claim that all Ahwazis who have been sentenced to death have confessed to participating in bomb attacks in Ahwaz last year and earlier this year. However, their solicitors have stated that their clients have not confessed to any crime and they have lodged strong protests over the trial procedure, which they claim is unfair. The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) has received the solicitors' letters and is in the process of translating them into English.
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