AL-AHWAZ NEWS >>>>>

The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) has launched an Ahwazi Rights Declaration, following a consultation process with the Ahwazi Arab community. It sets out Ahwazi demands for self-determination, human rights, democracy, freedom of association, freedom of worship, women's rights, redistribution of oil wealth and peace in Iran. The Declaration will form the basis of lobbying and advocacy activity for Ahwazi Arab rights. Click here to sign the declaration .

- Having regard to Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution permitting "the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools."

- Having regard to Article 19 of the Iranian Constitution affirming that "all people of Iran, whatever the ethnic group or tribe to which they belong, enjoy equal rights; and colour, race, language, and the like, do not bestow any privilege."

- Having regard to Article 26 of the Iranian Constitution affirming that "The formation of parties, societies, political or professional associations, as well as religious societies, whether Islamic or pertaining to one of the recognized religious minorities, is permitted provided they do not violate the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the Islamic republic."

- Having regard to Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights stating that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."

- Having regard to Article 7 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights affirming that "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination."

- Having regard to Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Iran, affirming that "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

- Having regard to Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ratified by Iran, condemning "racial segregation and apartheid" and commits state parties to "undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature in territories under their jurisdiction."

- Having regard to Article 33(1) of the United Nations 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, declaring that "No Contracting State shall expel or return ("refouler") a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion," and Article 14(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

- Having regard to the UN General Assembly's resolution expressing serious concern about the human rights situation in Iran; [1]

- Having regard to the reports by Amnesty International on the arrest, incommunicado detention, use of torture and execution against Ahwazi Arab prominent journalists, lawyers, tribal leaders, students and human rights activists; [2] [3]

- Having regard to the Amnesty International's report acknowledging that 54 civilians who were killed during the April 2005 uprising in Ahwaz City. [4]

A. Whereas the human rights situation in Iran has systematically deteriorated in the last few years;

B. Whereas Iran continues to arrest, imprisonment and execution of Ahwazi Arab minority rights activists;

C. Whereas Iran systematically refused to provide information and engage in a dialogue with UN Special Rapporteurs on the continuing execution of Ahwazi Arabs, violating its obligations under the procedures of the Human Rights Council; [5]

D. Whereas breaches of human and minority rights in Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz) continue to be reported by non-governmental organisations, including the persecution of ethnic Arabs and the destruction of their homes and confiscation of their land;

E. Whereas in recent years Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz) has witnessed a state-enforced change in ethnic composition through forced out-migration of Arabs to other provinces and in-migration of non-Arabs, as stated by UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing Miloon Kothari, which amounts to an ethnic cleansing policy; [6]

F. Whereas Arabs are denied employment under the gozinesh criteria; [7]

G. Whereas Ahwazi Arab refugees under the protection of the United Nations continue to be detained and illegally deported or extradited from Syria. [8] [9]

We the undersigned

1. Condemn racism, political violence and reactionary ideologies;

2. Condemn Iran's persecution of Ahwazi Arabs on the grounds that collectively they represent a national security threat;

3. Call upon Iran to respect the cultural, linguistic and historical identity of the Arabs of Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz);

4. Call for an end to ethnically exclusive settlements in Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz), including the use of separation barriers to segregate neighbourhoods by ethnicity;

5. Call upon Iran to allow Arab freedom of expression and association, with the full participation of Arab political parties in the electoral process, so long as they are peaceful and respect the outcome of free and fair elections;

6. Declare that the Ahwazi issue should not be used as a pretext for foreign invasion and that the Ahwazi movement should not be used as part of a proxy war between Iran and its foreign enemies; the Ahwazi Arab civil rights movement should remain a genuine and legitimate expression of ethnic grievances and aspirations;

7. Consider unacceptable the persecution of Arabs in Iran and support an independent and public investigation by the UN Human Rights Council into the situation in Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz) following the repression of April 2005, particularly a series of executions of Ahwazi Arabs, the killing of unarmed Ahwazi Arab demonstrators and other extra-judicial killings;

8. Call for the recognition of the Arab people as a distinct ethnic group and enshrine this in the Iranian Constitution;

9. Call for Arabs to be educated in their native tongue, up to higher educational level;

10. Call for freedom of worship for non-Shia people of Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz) and the rest of Iran, including Sunnis, Christians, Mandeans, Jews, Bahais, Zoroastrians and other faiths and also to permit religious conversion and atheist and humanist beliefs;

11. Call for the respect for women's rights in Iran and for the appointment of an Arab woman to take the position of womenâs officer in the Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz) provincial government in order to tackle culturally sensitive issues, such as honour killing, health issues and education;

12. Call for the recognition of internally democratic, independent trade unions in the workplace, with peaceful worker mobilisation free of government intimidation;

13. Call for positive discrimination in favour of Arabs in Arab majority districts to ensure adequate Arab representation in employment;

14. Call for Arab citizens' equal right to housing, employment and ownership of property throughout Iran;

15. Call for the establishment of a local assembly with powers to legislate and enforce laws in Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz) and ensure the participation of the Arab people in the Iranian parliament and the Cabinet on the basis of their proportion of the total population;

16. Freedom of expression and publication should be emphasised with the independent publication of Arabic language books and newspapers and independent broadcasting on radio and television networks, without any kind of censorship;

17. Call for oil revenues to be used to develop the Arab region's industry and agriculture for the sake of employment and poverty alleviation;

18. Call for a review of the agrarian reform law, with land redistributed to peasants;

19. Condemn the arrest and imprisonment of Ahwazi Arab intellectuals, journalists and lawyers and the closure of Arabic bookshops;

20. Call for the United Nations and refugee-hosting States, including Syria, to respect the rights of Ahwazi Arab refugees to safe haven and asylum, and immediately cease deportations to Iran.

Labels: activism

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01 October, 2007

BAFS Member Speaks to Arab News Network on Iran

The following are excerpts from a debate on the Arabs of Iran's Al-Ahwaz province, which aired on ANB TV on September 7, 2007. To view the clip visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1567.htm

Musa Al-Sharifi of the Al-Ahwaz Democratic Solidarity Party: "With regard to our Arab region of Al-Ahwaz, the [Iranian] government's policy is to expropriate lands, to deport the indigenous Arab inhabitants to other regions, and to replace them with people from the Persian provinces of central Iran."

Interviewer: "How is this done? The Arabs own the lands, which are expropriated by government decree, or what?"

Musa Al-Sharifi: "Yes, this process began in the days of the Shah with the sugar cane projects and so on. They would take the lands from the Arab farmers and establish on them camps for the army or the security agencies, or fictitious economic projects and so on. This process began in the time of the Shah, and intensified in the Islamic Republic."

[...]

Mansour Al-Ahwazi, political activist and treasurer of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS): "Various methods are used in the ethnic cleansing. We did not claim that there were killings... There are killings, indiscriminate executions, and all that, but not like what happened in Yugoslavia and other places. They are trying to finish off our existence.

[...]

"The first city of Persian settlers is called Shirinshah. You can find it on the map, or you can open Google Earth and see this Persian city in the heart of the Arab region. Lands in this region were expropriated under the pretext of the sugar cane project and were used to build the city of Shirinshah.

"The first settlement in the time of the Shah was called New Yazd, but after the revolution, the Iranians who were brought there fled from New Yazd. When the Iranian regime believes that the Arab or international situation allows it to get away with these things, it intensifies its actions. After the Arab defeat by Israel in 1967, they carried out the first settlement plan of New Yazd. They brought people from Yazd, and settled them in Al-Ahwaz. They did this when they saw that the condition of the Arabs deteriorated, even though the Arabs completely ignore our cause.

"Now that Iraq is no longer competing with Iran, and now that Iran has gained a monopoly over the strategic situation in the region, they have stepped up the expropriation of lands in Al-Ahwaz. The Iranian regime - despite all its claims to support the Arab causes and so on... Whenever it identifies some weakness in the [Arab] nation, it escalates its ethnic cleansing policies in Al-Ahwaz.

[...]

"The Al-Ahwaz issue highlights the contradictions of the Iranian government. The Iranian government professes to call for unity, to avoid sectarianism, and to defend the Shiites. It tries to use the Shiite bargaining chip in some Arab countries in order to promote its plans and in order to extract some concessions from the U.S. or from some of the other Western powers. If Iran really defends the Shiites, why does it oppress the [Arab] Shiites of Al-Ahwaz? The majority [of the Arabs] there are Shiite. If it really defends the [Arab] peoples in Lebanon and Palestine, why does it oppress its own Arab people? This is the greatest contradiction in the policy of the Iranian government.

"This issue highlights the contradictions of the Iranian government on all levels - on the sectarian level, as well as the Islamic level. The Iranian government is, in fact, coming to a dead-end, not only in terms of its foreign policy, but domestically as well.

"For example, some time ago they closed the Al-Ashraq cultural institute, which was the only Arab cultural institute in Al-Ahwaz. It was closed two days ago, as you can read on the Internet. This was done for no reason whatsoever. It did not support violence or any political organization. All it did was distribute Arab and Islamic books. It was attacked and was closed down.

"This is part of the faltering policy of the Ahmadinejad government - just like it chose to run ahead with its nuclear program, it failed to start a dialogue with its [non-Persian] peoples, and to find a formula of compromise in this regard. It has now begun to escalate its indiscriminate arrests and its attacks.

"There have been many more executions in recent years, since the rise of Ahmadinejad, and many cultural institutes have been closed down. [The Iranian government] has begun to push matters towards a dead end, and to encourage people to rise up and create unrest. What is happening now in Baluchistan... I am sure that you have heard about the kidnappings. In Kurdistan, two helicopters were attacked. They blame the West for all this unrest, and try to say this is the result of conspiracies, but it is the result of their own policy.

[...]

"Iran rules Al-Ahwaz by virtue of the status quo alone. It enjoys no historical, political, or even popular legitimacy in Al-Ahwaz.

[...]

"As the international situation deteriorates for the Iranian government, its control will weaken. Their fear of this leads them to escalate the oppression in Al-Ahwaz.

[...]

"The unity of Iran has begun to face very grave dangers, because the broadest common denominator - the religious or Shiite element - has weakened greatly."

Interviewer: "In what sense has it weakened? They derive strength from this."

Mansour Al-Ahwazi: "No, this element has weakened greatly, because the government's policy. Take, for example, the issue of the veil. They impose the veil, but in the early days of the revolution, it was worn out of personal conviction, and no one imposed it. Iranian women seek any opportunity to express their rage at the policies of the Iranian government, which imposes the veil.

"In the past, Iranian women wore the veil out of personal conviction. Now, it has become a matter of oppression, and you can see how they mobilize armies in order to attack and humiliate women and to force them to wear the veil."

Labels: activism , features , media

17 August, 2007

Ahwazi human rights leader speaks on television

Dr Karim Abdian, director of the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO), highlighted Iran's ethnic cleansing campaign in an interview with leading British human rights and gay rights activist Peter Tatchell. The interview covered the human rights abuse against Ahwazi intellectuals, notably the journalist Mohammad Hassan Fallahiya and the psychologist Dr Awdeh Afrawi . Dr Abdian spoke of the hundreds of other Ahwazis, including young children, who are imprisoned who campaigned lawfully for Arab rights and autonomy. He also drew attention to the Iranian regime's refusal to allow UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Dr Philip Alston to visit Iran and investigate human rights abuses.

Any Ahwazi who stands up against starvation and ethnic cleansing of Ahwazis is denounced as a Wahabbi radical, a separatist or a Western imperialist, said Dr Abdian. He ended the interview by outlining the Ahwazi demand for self-government within Iran, which was the basis of the Ahwazi Arabs' Mohammerah Declaration of 1979. But he said that international solidarity, not military intervention by foreign governments, was the best means to achieve Ahwazi aspirations.

Dr Abdian is an advisor to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) and has represented the Ahwazi Arabs at an international level.

Below is an excerpt from the interview. Click here to watch the full interview .

Labels: activism , human rights , media

14 July, 2007

Bahrainis call for "liberation of Ahwaz" from Iran

Bahrainis protesting against Iran's call for their island to become an Iranian province chanted slogans calling for the "liberation of Ahwaz" from Iranian occupation .

Protests erupted after Hussain Shariatmadari, an aide to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed that Bahrainis wanted the "reunification" of Bahrain with its "motherland", Iran. Writing in an Iranian newspaper, Shariatmadari also alleged that Bahrain was separated from Iran on the basis of an agreement signed by the former Shah and the US and British governments.

Bahraini protestors stated that Bahrain has always been Arab. They also accused Iran of illegal occupation of Ahwazi Arab land. Bahrain's Shura Council has also condemned Shariatmadari's comments.

The controversial statements by the presidential aide come weeks after former Iranian Consul General in to Dubai, Adel Assadinia, revealed that the regime had set up sleeper cells in Arab countries in the Gulf. Although Dubai is the principal base of Iranian intelligence operations in the Gulf, Iran has recruited extremists within the Bahraini Shi'ite population. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph , he said: "The Iranian government believes that to survive it needs permanent bases throughout the Middle East. Anybody who contemplates threatening or invading Iran will have those cells unleashed against them."

Labels: activism , intifada

04 July, 2007

Ahwazis at parliamentary human rights hearing

"Western governments say they support democracy in the Middle East, but none have given any support either in word or deed to the Ahwazi people in their struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights," said British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) activist and researcher, Ali Bani Torfi, at a hearing on Iran by the Conservative Human Rights Commission .

The hearing also took evidence from representatives of Kurdish and Bahai human rights organisations as well as Amnesty International. The Commission was established in 2005 by the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and is chaired by Stephen Crabb MP. It also includes several Members of Parliament, some of whom were present to hear evidence from BAFS on the persecution of Ahwazi Arabs, whose homeland has been occupied and ruled from Tehran since 1925.

In his address, Mr Bani Torfi compared the treatment of Ahwazi Arabs to apartheid in South Africa, with segregation in housing, employment and education enforced by extreme state violence. He said: "Successive Iranian regimes have denied Ahwazi rights as a people and have tried to ignore the existence of the Ahwazi Arab nation, calling them 'Arab-speakers' rather than Arabs denying their ethnicity due to their policy of Persianisation. This policy has involved government confiscation of Arab-owned land and 'ethnic restructuring', which typically involves the forced migration of Arabs out of Al-Ahwaz and their replacement with 'loyal' ethnic groups, particularly ethnic Persians.

"While UN agencies and leading human rights groups have catalogued the large number atrocities against the Ahwazi people â ranging from the land confiscation programme to the illegal killings and the incarceration of children â not a single democratic government has lifted a finger to address the issue of Ahwazi rights ... It is time for a change in attitudes. It is time to listen to the voice of the Ahwazis."

Labels: activism , human rights , UK

27 May, 2007

Ahwazi activists condemn arrests in Moscow

Ahwazi Arab activists have condemned the treatment of gay rights activist Peter Tatchell (pictured) and other demonstrators in Moscow at the weekend. Peter has worked tirelessly for minority groups such as the Ahwazi Arabs, forging solidarity with people facing discrimination on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexuality.

Dr Karim Abdian, Director of the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO), said: "It's a sad day for peace and democracy in general and democracy in Russia in particular when well-known human rights advocates and defenders such as Peter Tatchell and Marco Cappato are arrested and beaten in broad daylight in full view of Russian police in Moscow. Peter Tatchell, a British icon in human rights, and Mr Cappato, an MP in European Parliament and a leader of the Italian Radical Party, are friends and supporters of the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority in Iran. We condemn the arrests and beating of Peter Tatchell and his delegates and request their release immediately. We also hold the Russian government responsible for their well-being."

British Ahwazi Friendship Society activists have also joined in the condemnation of the beatings and arrests. Ali Bani Torfi said: "We call for the release of Peter Tatchell and his comrades immediately. We call for solidarity with Peter and condemn his arrest. He was punched in the head in full view of police. The act of Russian police was appeared to support the ultra-nationalists and Orthodox Church hardliners. The Iranian regime violates the freedom of speech of Ahwazi Arabs by preventing them from holding demonstrations. The Russian government is doing the same to activists in Moscow. Peter is a good friend of the oppressed and downtrodden peoples like the Ahwazi Arabs in Iran. He fought to save the lives of many Ahwazi Arab activists who were arrested by the Iranian regime. All these nations must now stand with Peter and call the UK and EU governments to intervene and pressure Russia to release them without delay."

Yasser Assadi added: "We Ahwazis give our support to the human rights activist Peter Tatchell who is not only acting for gay rights but also other human rights issues such as minority rights. He has helped the oppressed Ahwazi people raise their voice at an international level. We believe that he should be freed and should not be treated inhumanely."

Labels: activism

24 May, 2007

British government "deeply concerned" over Iran's treatment of Ahwazis

British Foreign Minister Kim Howells has expressed "deep concern" about Iran's execution of Ahwazi Arabs and has pledged to take "all available opportunities to make clear to the Iranian authorities our concerns about minority rights in Iran."

Writing to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) in response to a joint appeal by Ahwazi groups to Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Howells recognised that religious and ethnic minorities in Iran continued to face "intimidation and discrimination" by the regime. The minister, who has responsibility for British relations with the Middle East, highlighted British attempts to try to halt the execution of Ahwazi Arab activists. He also supported EU and UN General Assembly condemnation of human rights violations against minorities, including Arabs, Kurds, Balochis, Christians, Jews and Sunni Muslims.

The joint appeal by Ahwazi groups was made in April on the second anniversary of the Ahwazi intifada and was signed by the Ahwazi Community in the UK, Ahwazi Arab People's Democratic Popular Front, the Ahwazi Women's Centre, the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, the Ahwazi Human Rights Organisation, the Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz and the National United Movement of Al-Ahwaz. Activists handed in their petition to the Prime Minister's residence during a demonstration outside Downing Street in Westminster, which was supported by leading British human rights activist Peter Tatchell (pictured). Click here to read the appeal .

Labels: activism , UK

21 April, 2007

Ahwazi Arab Appeal to Prime Minister Tony Blair

On Friday (20 April) Ahwazi Arabs demonstrated outside the British Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street, Westminster, to mark the second anniversary of the Ahwazi intifada. A delegation representing a cross-section of Ahwazi political parties and civic groups handed in an appeal to 10 Downing Street. Below is the text of the letter:

Dear Prime Minister,

We write to you as representatives of a number of UK-based Ahwazi Arab organisations to appeal for greater international recognition and action on the plight of the Ahwazi Arabs.

This week marks the second anniversary of the Ahwazi Arab intifada or uprising against the Iranian regime and also the 83rd anniversary of ending the Arabian rule in Al-Ahwaz. The uprising was peaceful, but at least 130 Ahwazi demonstrators were killed by security forces, including pregnant women and children. Thousands participated in the uprising, which occurred throughout Al-Ahwaz or Arabistan â the local names for the Arab-populated region Iran calls "Khuzestan". They were demonstrating against the Iranian regimeâs current ethnic cleansing and Persianisation campaign, which was initiated by President Khatami and intensified under President Ahmadinejad.

According to the letter leaked from the presidential office that sparked the April 2005 uprising, the regime's goal is to reduce Arabs from a majority in their own homeland to less than a third of the population. While the Iranian regime has denied it is conducting ethnic cleansing, UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing Miloon Kothari has spoken of how land is confiscated from indigenous Ahwazi Arabs and given over to developments to house non-Arab Iranians brought into the area. Following a visit to the regime in July 2005, "Land confiscation and 'confiscation style' purchase of lands by the government seem to disproportionately impact on the land and property of some religious and ethnic minorities."

Ahwazis suffer a disproportionate level of unemployment, poverty, health problems and educational underachievement due to ethnic persecution and discrimination. Added to this is the campaign of executions of those who dare to challenge the regime's persecution of Ahwazi Arabs.

Britain has a responsibility to take up and address the Ahwazi issue in all international fora and in its bilateral relations with Iran. The British had promised to protect the autonomy of Arabistan in their deals with the local ruler Sheikh Khazal. They reneged on their promises and allowed Tehran to depose Sheikh Khazal and impose direct control over Arabistan in 1925, ending centuries of Arabian rule. Britain's decision to abandon the Ahwazi Arabs ultimately led to the suffering they are enduring today.

Iran has accused Britain of fomenting unrest in Al-Ahwaz and of arming Ahwazis. Although the British government has denied involvement, it has yet to make a clear statement condemning Iran's persecution and oppression of Ahwazi Arabs.

We call on the British government to state its condemnation of the persecution of Ahwazi Arabs and actively support Ahwazis' right to freedom of speech and self-determination. We also appeal to the government to prioritise Ahwazi Arab rights in its relations with Iran and take every opportunity to condemn their persecution at a UN level and multilateral institutions.

Yours sincerely,

Ahwazi Community in the UK
Ahwazi Arab People's Democratic Popular Front
Ahwazi Women's Centre
British Ahwazi Friendship Society
Ahwazi Human Rights Organisation
Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz
National United Movement of Al-Ahwaz (Arabistan)

Labels: activism

08 March, 2007

Ahwazis mark international women's day

London's Ahwazi Arab community marked International Women's Day today with an event that included talks and films on the experience of Ahwazi women under the Iranian regime.

The event was organised by the Ahwaz Community Association of the UK, which represents Ahwazi Arabs and organises community events and religious festivals.

An Ahwazi woman told the audience: "The International Women's Day is the story of the struggle of half of society to obtain equal rights with the other half. Women's history is about their desire to participate with men on an equal footing to build the community and fight against sexual discrimination alongside the fight against ethnic discrimination. This is what the Ahwazi woman suffers and she has not yet been rescued from discrimination.

"Although the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian women, she has made no mention of the suffering of Ahwazi Arabs in general and Ahwazi women struggle in particular. But despite this, Ahwazi women alone break social, economic and politics system's barriers which were put in their way by successive Iranian regimes on the one hand and customs and traditions on the other hand. This has meant that Ahwazi women are fighting on different fronts, which has exposed them to horrific levels of pressure.

"The international community should shoulder its responsibility towards Ahwazi and non-Persian women rights in Iran and should not remain indifferent, silent and ignorant about their oppression. They are subjected to racial and sexual discrimination under the Iranian regime due to its belief that women are second-class and that Ahwazi Arabs are second degree citizens. The international community should not be in collusion with this regime by focusing on the nuclear program while remaining silent on other human right violations, especially women's rights and the issues of non-Persian nations in Iran.

"Today is an opportunity to evaluate the role of Ahwazi women. It is also an opportunity to remember Ahwazi women right activists who sacrificed their lives, their sons, fathers and their husbands for struggle of our just cause."

Click here to download a leaflet on Ahwazi Arab women

Labels: activism , women

06 March, 2007

Shia Democratic Alternative Seminar

The Henry Jackson Society welcomes applications to its Parliamentary discussion on 'The Shia Democratic Alternative: Challenging Iranian Clerical Rule to Bring Peace and Security to the Middle East' with special guest speakers Sheikh Mohammad Kazem Al-Khaqani (founder member of the campaign to forge commitment to democratic governance in the Shia world) and Adel Assadinia (former Iranian diplomat and Member of the Majlis).

The meeting will be chaired by Gisela Stuart MP. The meeting will introduce the concept of the Shia Democratic Alternative being pursued by Sheikh al-Khaqani and its potential to bring peace and security to the Middle East by undermining Iranian theocratic rule. Mr Assadinia will also be using his intimate knowledge of the Iranian regime to shed light on its activities in supporting extremist groups throughout the region and its hitherto unsuspected role in Dubai.

The meeting will be held on 20 March from 3pm at the House of Commons, London. Please contant Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, at

Labels: activism

27 February, 2007

Ahwazi response to Sunday Telegraph allegations

Below is a letter from UK-based Ahwazi organisations to the editor of the Sunday Telegraph in relation to an article that made unsubstantiated allegations that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is funding and organising Ahwazi separatist organisations to carry out bomb attacks in Iran. Click here to read the Sunday Telegraph article .

If the Sunday Telegraph's reports of CIA involvement in bomb attacks in Ahwaz are correct, then it is clear the US government is not listening to the Ahwazi Arab movement. If it had, then the first demand it would have heard would not be arms but the deployment of UN human rights observers to report on the Iranian regime's ethnic cleansing of Ahwazi Arabs from their homeland in Khuzestan, the denial of their cultural rights and the African levels of poverty they are forced to endure.

Iranian opposition groups representing Arabs, Azeris, Balochis and Kurds have repeatedly stated that they do not receive and do not seek to receive financial or military support from Western governments. They want to retain their political independence and do not want to be pawns in geopolitical power games.

Ahwazi Arabs know more than anyone the price of war, following eight years of the Iran-Iraq war which was fought over their homeland. They no longer want to be a cause that foreign powers pick up and discard when it suits them. They want a permanent political settlement of their long-standing grievances against the chauvinist regime in Tehran. War will only give Iran more excuses to persecute its minorities.

Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO)
Ahwaz Community Association of the UK (ACA-UK)
British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS)

Labels: activism

25 February, 2007

Ahwazis at London's Anti-War Demonstration

Around 20 Ahwazi Arabs attended Saturday's anti-war march in London, calling for solidarity with those campaigning for revolutionary change in Iran while opposing foreign imposition of regime change.

Ahwazi activists handed out more than 1,500 leaflets informing protestors that Ahwazis needed solidarity not war. The leaflet also highlighted the Iranian regime's ethnic cleansing of Ahwazi Arabs and backs their right for self-determination and human rights.

One activist said: "Many people had not heard of the Ahwazis, so we were able to inform them. We found many new friends and we hope we will have even more in the future."

Following the demonstration, a group of Ahwazis attended the launch of Hands Off the People of Iran (HOPI), a campaign group that opposes both military action on Iran and the Iranian regime. Speakers at the meeting - including Ben Lewis of Communist Students, Mark Fischer of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), Peter Tatchell of the Green Party and Torab Saleth of the Workers Left Unity Iran party - called for solidarity with students, workers, women and oppressed ethnic groups opposed to the regime.

BAFS spokesman Nasser Bani Assad said: "We want to send out a clear message that opposition to war should not be interpreted as support for the chauvinist regime in Tehran.

"Most anti-war activists agree that the Tehran regime is oppressive and undemocratic, but they say it is up to the people to decide its replacement not foreign governments. Many fear that a military attack on Iran would give the Iranian establishment more excuses to repress minority rights activists, trade unionists, feminists and students.

"Senior members of the British anti-war movement have backed the Ahwazis' rights and have called for an end to Iran's anti-Arab execution campaign in Ahwaz. We hope that by publicising the oppression of Ahwazi Arabs at this demonstration, more progressive-minded people will support the Ahwazi movement."

Labels: activism

23 February, 2007

Ahwazi opposition activists support London anti-war demonstration

Members of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) will be joining the Stop the War demonstration in London on Saturday.

The march will protest against military intervention in the Middle East, among other issues. BAFS activists will be distributing a leaflet calling for solidarity with those campaigning for grass-roots revolutionary change in Iran and opposing foreign imposition of regime change.

The leaflet also highlights the Iranian regime's ethnic cleansing of Ahwazi Arabs and backs their right for self-determination and human rights.

BAFS spokesman Nasser Bani Assad said: "We want to send out a clear message that opposition to war should not be interpreted as support for the chauvinist regime in Tehran.

"The regime cannot assume that opposition to war means support for its foreign policy objectives. Most anti-war activists agree that the Tehran regime is oppressive and undemocratic, but they say it is up to the people to decide its replacement not foreign governments. Many fear that a military attack on Iran would give the Iranian establishment more excuses to repress minority rights activists, trade unionists, feminists and students.

"Senior members of the British anti-war movement have backed the Ahwazis' rights and have called for an end to Iran's anti-Arab execution campaign in Ahwaz. We hope that by publicising the oppression of Ahwazi Arabs at this demonstration, more progressive-minded people will support the Ahwazi movement."

Among those who have voiced their support for Ahwazi Arab rights are Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas and left-wing Labour leadership contender John McDonnell.

Following the demonstration, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will be speaking against war and against the Iranian regime at a Hands Off the People of Iran campaign meeting. He will also speak out against the persecution of Ahwazi Arabs. The meeting will be held at 5pm on Saturday at the Essex Serpent, 6 King Street, Covent Garden, London.

Click here to download the leaflet

Labels: activism

02 February, 2007

Iran faces heavy criticism from leading human rights campaigner

One of Iran's most famous human rights activists, Emad Baghi, has issued his strongest condemnation yet of the Iranian regime's treatment of Ahwazi Arabs.

In an article published in French on his website , Baghi states that the regime itself is responsible for creating the conditions for ethnic Arab unrest, including bomb attacks in Ahwaz.

He reiterated his call for understanding of Arabs' plight, rather than executions, would help quell unrest and also restated his opposition to the death penalty. He said: "They are individuals who live on the black gold of the oil-bearing province of Khuzestan, but have only known poverty and misery. There are among them individuals who believed in the reform, who fought by peaceful means to assert their rights while trying to elect representatives to the municipal councils of their cities and to Parliament. These efforts were in vain, leading to despair.

"There came a feeling of political and social obstruction. Misery, scarcity, humiliation and despair can only generate one of two reactions: depression and passivity or aggressiveness. And what did we who owe our wellbeing with the oil revenue do? Would these attacks have taken place if we had not remained silent over these inequalities and denounced discrimination?"

Baghi's assessment of the situation in Ahwaz was welcomed by the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS). BAFS spokesman Nasser Bani Assad said: "The Iranian regime's attempts to crush Ahwazi Arabs legitimate demands for human rights, social equality and political representation on the basis of the Iranian Constitution has fuelled anger. The recent round of executions has only inflamed the situation, alienating many Ahwazi Arabs, particularly the young who are suffering high levels of unemployment. The poverty and discrimination that Ahwazi Arabs endure in Iran is creating the basis of ethnic unrest and serious social problems, such as drug and alcohol abuse, smuggling and criminality.

"Ahwazi Arabs are being vilified by hardliners within the Iranian intelligensia, who are portraying them as morally corrupt. But their social situation is merely a symptom of the moral corruption at the heart of the Iranian establishment.

"Emad Baghi has given many Ahwazi Arabs hope that they can win their rights without recourse to violence. We call on civil society to join with Baghi in condemning racial discrimination against Ahwazi Arabs and other minority groups in Iran."

Labels: activism , human rights

18 January, 2007

Wayne Madsen withdraws allegation against BAFS

Journalist Wayne Madsen has withdrawn his allegation that the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) is a front for British intelligence following an email exchange with BAFS Chairman Daniel Brett.

On 12 January, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) published an article that alleged that three explosions near Mohammara/Khorramshahr were attacks by members of the Ahwazi Arab ethnic group sponsored by British intelligence. It quoted unnamed intelligence sources in support of its claims. Mr Brett emailed the website, pointing out that the explosions were related to landmine clearance operations, as confirmed in the Iranian media and by Iranian officials . He also stated that while the Iranians have blamed British intelligence for ethnic unrest and bomb attacks by Ahwazi Arabs, the Iranian government has failed to provide any proof to support its allegations.

WMR subsequently published Mr Brett's letter, along with a rebuttal in defence of its claims. The website stated that BAFS was an "obvious British intelligence operation." It also referred to Mr Brett's previous involvement in the Fabian Society, which was described as "the vanguard for the neo-imperialistic 'New Labor' policies of Tony Blair." Additionally, it called into question the source of BAFS funding, claiming that the organisation was a tool of "neocon grand conspirators."

Following a subsequent exchange of correspondence between Mr Madsen and Mr Brett, the WMR website stated that it was "satisfied that the Ahwazi exile movement is not in total collusion with U.S. and British intelligence in fomenting attacks in Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran."

Mr Brett gave Mr Madsen assurances that BAFS had not had contact with a research company associated with the US Marines Corps, that it is not in contact with the Mujahideen-e Khalq Organisation (MKO), that it is not in contact with any military intelligence organisation of any country and that it rejects violence as a means to advancing the minority rights agenda in Iran. BAFS said that it relies only on donations from private individuals from within the Ahwazi diaspora and receives no funds from non-governmental organisations or governments.

In his email, Mr Brett said that "we oppose any invasion of Iran," adding that "we do not believe that democracy can be imposed by force from outside Iran." He stressed that "our campaigns to stop the execution of Ahwazi opposition activists have attracted support from across the political spectrum in the UK, including the backing of senior members of the progressive left."

Following the WMR's retraction of its allegations against Mr Brett and against BAFS, Mr Brett said: "We are grateful that Mr Madsen has looked at the evidence and has the courage to make a public statement that his initial assessment of our organisation was wrong. While he may still have suspicions about US and British policies in the Middle East, he acknowledges that BAFS is independent of these governments' foreign policy agenda. BAFS hopes that Mr Madsen will speak directly to members of the Ahwazi opposition in exile to increase his knowledge of the region's political climate."

Labels: activism , media

15 December, 2006

Ahwaz elections: Iran's intimidation, repression and racism

Ahwazi Arabs have staged a mass boycott of the elections to the Ahwaz municipal council and the Assembly of Experts amid accusations of electoral fraud, intimidation and political repression.

Writing in the Arabic media, leading Ahwazi journalist Youssef Azizi Bani Torouf has highlighted the regime's ban on Arab candidates, with members of the Ahwaz council prevented from seeking re-election.

In the 2003 elections to the council, all but one of the winning candidates were supported by the Lejnat Al-Wefaq (Reconciliation Committee) which advocated Arab minority rights on the basis of the equal rights enshrined in the Iranian Constitution. The elections were widely praised for being free, fair and transparent. Since then, the party has been outlawed and Wefaq members have been imprisoned, with leading members such as Ali Matouri Zadeh now facing execution.

In this year's elections, the regime has blocked over 170 Ahwazi Arabs from running for election to the Ahwaz municipal council following a racist vetting procedure conducted by the regime. While Ahwaz City is 70 per cent Arab, the vast majority of candidates allowed to stand for election are non-Arabs, including hardliners from the Revolutionary Guards which has conducted ethnic cleansing programmes in the province.

In the run-up to the polls, the regime conducted mass arrests of Ahwazi Arabs and fired on crowds of demonstrators with live ammunition ( click here for further details ). The Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation reports that three Ahwazis arrested by the security services during recent demonstrations - Hassan Mola Niassi (31), Jassim Nadhan Niassi (30) and Nasseri Ramadan (26) - are being tortured in custody.

Nasser Bani Assad, spokesman for the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, said: "These elections have been marred by state violence, intimidation and electoral fraud. The bar on Arab council members from seeking re-election in order to elect hardline non-Arab outsiders is yet more proof of violent institutional anti-Arab racism in Iran.

"The elections violate the spirit of Iran's constitution, particularly Articles 15, 19 and 20 which guarantee equal rights for ethnic minorities. If the government is violating the constitution, then the government has no mandate to govern and no authority over the Ahwazi Arabs.

"Ahwazis have the right to disrupt peacefully all the activities of illegitimate municipal authorities and sabotage the instruments of their oppression. We urge Ahwazi Arabs to adopt civil disobedience tactics to overthrow the new Ahwaz City Council, whoever is declared the winner."

Labels: activism , elections , intifada

19 November, 2006

Ahwazis and Balochis demonstrate against Iran regime

Scores of Ahwazi Arab and Balochi activists gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London on Saturday to protest against the regime's racist policies and campaign of executions against ethnic minorities. The protest was organised by the Ahwaz Community Association of the UK and supported by a range of Ahwazi and Balochi organisations.

Photographs of 11 Ahwazi Arabs facing imminent execution were displayed along with the names of over 100 Ahwazi opposition activists recently killed by the regime.

Balochi and Ahwazi activists gave speeches at the demonstration. Rahim Bandoui, a spokesman for the Balochistan Peoples Party, said: "Today we have gathered here to protest and oppose the injustices of the barbaric regime of Iran against the prosecution and killing of our people who are rising and demanding their humanistic and national democratic rights. While everybody is suffering from not having their basic human rights observed, [...] unfortunately our Arabs, Baloch, Kurds, Azeri Turks and Turkmen are facing additional suffering, just for not having the same language, culture and even the same religion of the ruling elite. So far for nearly a century, all types of the ruling elites of Pan-Farsisms, crowned and turbaned, have consistently, constitutionally and institutionally tried to eliminate other nations and forcibly assimilate all cultural and linguistic diversity in Iran into ONE nation's culture, language and religion i.e. Persianisation."

Bandoui spoke of how new media technologies such as satellite television and radio were playing a vital role in the growing sense of identity among Iran's constituent nations and resistance against state killings of opposition activists.

He added: "In our view having a stable democracy in the region is not feasible without solving this social and political issue through a democratic process in Iran. Notably, the shadow and the heat wave of the barbaric regime's atrocities with regard to the human rights violation has stretched itself from its borders and has become not only the regional but a global threat to peace and stability."

The demonstration was supported by leading British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who has condemned Iran's ethnic cleansing programme against Ahwazi Arabs.

Ahwazis and Balochis chanted slogans, including "Ahmadinejad is the terrorist". The Ahwazi Arab activists facing execution have been accused of terrorism, although the regime has failed to substantiate the charges against the men who were tried in secret courts with little or no access to their lawyers. In contrast, President Ahmadinejad's government has been accused by Western governments of sponsoring international terrorism and of arming and organising death squads in Iraq.

Labels: activism

UNPO Continues Appeal to Halt Executions of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran

The following is a statement from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) - click here to download the original .

UNPO remains deeply concerned about the fate of the 10 ethnic Ahwazi-Arab activists recently sentenced to death by Iranian Courts, as well as an eleventh activist also to be hanged, but without formal trial or sentencing.

The European Parliament yesterday expressed also their concern, adopting a resolution which calls for an immediate halt to their executions, as well as the release of all other prisoners of conscience, many of whom are at present languishing without trial in Iranian jails. The resolution also expresses a broader concern with the treatment of minorities within Iran, many of whom are UNPO Members, as well as the prevalence and methods of execution used as a means to silence political opposition.

The Resolution in Full

The 10 men, Ali Motairi, Abdullah Solaimani, Abdulreza Sanawati (Zergani), Ghasem Salamat, Mohamad Chaab Pour, Abdulamir Farajullah Chaab, Alireza Asakreh, Majed Alboghubaish, Khalaf Khaziri, Malek Banitamim, were all found guilty of charges relating initially to an incident of terrorism, and later to Mohareb (enmity with God), in secret one-day trials which have received extensive international condemnation. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have indicated also a general concern with the fairness of any trail involving Ahwazi-Arabs in Iran.

In addition to having their trials conducted in secret, the defendants were not permitted to meet with their lawyers, several of whom have also been arrested following their complaints over the fairness of the proceedings. There are also reports suggesting that the defendants were tortured during detention, and forced to make confessions later broadcasted on Iranian television. It was the televised confession of the untried eleventh individual, Mr. Saeed Hamedan, which indicated he is also to be amongst the executed.

As international leaders consider the potential benefits of softening their stance and increasing cooperation with the Iranian Regime, UNPO is part of the growing number of politicians, international institutions, and members of civil society demanding Iran commute the death sentences of the 11 men, as well as cease entirely in their use of the death sentence as a means of punishing political activists.

UNPO has issued appeals to Philip Alston, the United Nations' (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, and Mrs. Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO) has also issued appeals to several MEPs; Hon. Ms. Angelika Beer, Chairwoman of the Iran Delegation in the European Parliament; Hon. Mr. Josep Borrell Fontelles, President of the European Parliament, Member of European Parliament (MEP); Elmar Brok, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Helene Flautre; Paolo Casaca; and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne.

British and European Parliamentary members contacted by the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS), including Chris Bryant MP and Michael Gove MP, joined by Green Party MEPs Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert, have also called on UN Secretary General Mr. Annan, as well as a range of senior EU and UN leaders, to step in and demand Tehran commutes the death sentences.

Their calls will be echoed this weekend, when a number of Ahwazi and Azeri groups will be joined also by UNPO Member from Balochistan to protest outside the Iranian Embassy in London. International Media are also sure also to support the gathering, featuring a number of prominent articles, such as in; The Guardian (UK) and The Daily Mail (UK).

UNPO remains deeply concerned about the imminent executions and the ongoing situation for Ahwazi Arabs in Iran, and will continue to appeal for:

- Iran to stop the execution of the 11 convicted men and grant fair trials to the 19 men convicted of the bombing;

- The Iranian government to cease its execution of Ahwaz Arabs for peaceful protest; and

- Iran to address the issue of unfair trials and extrajudicial and summary executions of the indigenous Ahwaz Arab people.

Related links
Appeal to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
Information about Protest in London
Article in The Guardian (UK)

Labels: activism , death penalty , human rights

16 November, 2006

Balochis and Azeris rally against Iran's executions

Balochi and Azeri groups have united behind the campaign for a halt in Iran's campaign of executions and ethnic cleansing against Ahwazis.

The Balochistan Peoples Party will participate in the demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in London on Saturday from 1pm. Like the Ahwazis, the Balochis - a mostly Sunni nation located on either side of the Iran-Pakistan border - are facing mass executions as the Iranian regime attempts to quash a growing rebellion in Balochistan. During the last two years the Iranian intelligence agencies, particularly the Mersad group, appear to have followed a policy of "shoot and kill" instead of arresting young Baloch accused of being members of the Baloch resistance movement. The Iranian regime has launched a series of military operations and "war games" in Balochistan, using both helicopter gun-ships and air strikes. According to government's own media sources, the regime has shot, executed or hanged, more than 200 Baloch individuals over the past few months, relying heavily on accusations of drug smuggling, anti revolutionary activities, and cooperation with the United States and Great Britain.

Balochis have been preyed upon by the Iranian regime. On 23 August 2006, the Marsad Group attacked a village near Zahidan, the provincial capital of Balochistan, and killed two young men in front of women and children. They were forced out of their homes, to search for the members of resistance movement and weapons. The two young men had protested against the ill treatment of the women. On the 24th of August Amir Hamzeh Eidouzehi, a young man, was hanged in public in Baloch town of Khash, and another young men, Ali Jan Moradi, was hanged in IranShahr on 27 August 2006, both were accused of instigating public trouble and drug trafficking, a sentenced without trail. On the 24th of September three men identified as Ali Karimi, Gholam Koohkan, and Khodamorad Lashkarzadeh, were hanged in prison in provincial capital Zahedan. These dissidents were also executed on charges of drug smuggling and convicted without trial.

Azeri Turks, comprising around a third of the Iranian population and also subject to racism in Iran, have also backed the campaign to halt the execution of Ahwazis. The Azerbaijani Youth Association is lobbying the European Parliament and European governments to take action. A representative wrote to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS), saying: "It is with great concern that I have heard about Ahwazis in Iran facing execution. When it comes to life we make no difference on if they are Arabs or Turks. We must show solidarity with each other and together fight against these fascists."

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST EXECUTIONS AND ETHNIC CLEANSING OF AHWAZI ARABS:
DATE: SATURDAY 18 NOVEMBER
TIME: 1PM-3PM
PLACE:
IRANIAN EMBASSY
PRINCE'S GATE
LONDON
NEAREST TUBE: SOUTH KENSINGTON
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS

Labels: activism

13 November, 2006

Ahwazis to demonstrate against executions outside Iranian embassy

Ahwazi groups are coming together for a demonstration against ethnic cleansing and executions outside the Iranian Embassy, Prince's Gate in London, on Saturday at 1pm ( click here for directions - nearest tube: South Kensington).

The protest is being organised by the Ahwaz Community Association of the UK and is supported by the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation , Democratic Solidarity Party of Ahwaz , the Ahwaz Democratic Popular Front and the British Ahwazi Friendship Society . Other Iranian groups are also expected to show their solidarity.

Related stories: :
"Iran is guilty of ethnic cleansing" - Green MEPs - 14 November
Iran regime shows forced "confessions" on Khuzestan TV - 13 November
Mass executions of Ahwazis threaten Middle East security - 12 November
Ten Ahwazi Arabs to hang in public - 11 November
Psychologist sentenced to 20 years imprisonment - 18 October
"27 Ahwazi dissidents in custody" - Emadeddin Baghi - 9 September
Death sentence for Ahwazis confirmed by Supreme Court - 31 July
Son of Ahwazi sentenced to death appeals to Kofi Annan - 27 July
Urgent Appeal to EU Foreign Affairs Chief over Iran Executions - 11 July
Iran: Retry Ethnic Arabs Condemned to Death - 24 June
UNPO Urgent Appeal Concerning Ahwazi Executions
Ahwazis face arrest, deportation and execution - 1 June
Amnesty International: Eleven Ahwazis Face Execution - 17 May
Iran prepares for new round of executions in Ahwaz - 13 May
Executed: Young Men Hung by Iranian Tyrants - 2 March
Iran prepares to execute tribal family - 19 February
Iran sentences seven over Ahwaz bombings - 15 February
Iran increases repression in Ahwaz - 8 February
Ahwaz Bombings Come After Weeks of Unrest - 24 January

Labels: activism

04 November, 2006

Iran bans Lejnat Al-Wefaq

The Iranian regime has banned an Ahwazi Arab group campaigning for minority rights, claiming that it was behind the unrest in Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan).

According to the official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the Ahwaz prosecutor's office released a statement todayn stating that the Lejnat Al Wefagh does not have permission to engage in political activities and has been declared illegal due to it's alleged opposition to the Islamic regime and encouraging communal violence. Anyone associated with the party is therefore guilty of mohareb (enmity with God), which carries the death penalty.

The Lejnat Al-Wefaq was set up in 1999 to support minority rights by constitutional means, using Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution to support its case that Ahwazi Arabs are legally entitled to equal cultural, linguistic, economic and political rights.

The group participated in elections and its general secretary, Jasem Shadidzadeh Al-Tamimi (pictured speaking in parliament), succeeded in winning a parliamentary seat in the Sixth Majlis (2000-04) as well as winning all but one seat on the Ahwaz municipal council in 2003 ( click here for more details ). However, in the last parliamentary elections in 2004, conservatives in the regime barred candidates nominated by Lajnat Al-Wefagh. The group was dismantled, closing down legal possibilities for demands for Ahwazi rights.

A ban on the party participating in elections led many Ahwazi Arabs to conclude that they could not expect the regime to respect their constitutional right to equality, leading to ethnic unrest. In April 2005, Ahwazi Arabs staged an uprising against the confiscation of their land and racial discrimination. The government of President Mohammed Khatami responded by brutally clamping down on the demonstrators, leading to 51 confirmed deaths ( click here for more information ). The use of state terror has continued with at least 25,000 arrests and hundreds of killings, executions and disappearances.

Lejnat Al-Wefaq's former Majlis member Jasem Shadidzadeh Al-Tamimi appealed to the government to accede to Ahwazi demands for cultural tolerance and an end to racial discrimination and land confiscation. In an open letter to President Khatami, he urged him to "do your utmost in lowering the 'wall of mistrust' between the proud Iranian ethnicities, so that the 'infected wounds' of the Arab people of Ahwaz may heal." ( click here for further details ) In response, the government detained Al-Tamimi, but released him without charge - although regime hardliners have called for his arrest and he has faced at least one assassination attempt. Dozens of Wefaq activists have been imprisoned and many have escaped into exile.

Nasser Bani Assad, spokesman for the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS), said: "Most Ahwazi Arabs will interpret the move to outlaw a party that stands for reconciliation with the Islamic Republic as a sign that the regime is keen to obstruct the equal rights they have been granted under the Iranian Constitution. Without any way of exercising their grievances through legal means and seemingly without any international condemnation of the regime's racism and ethnic cleansing measures, a growing number of Ahwazi Arabs will take increasingly extreme measures.

"Banning the Lejnat Al-Wefaq has closed any channel of communication between the Ahwazis and the regime and unfortunately many will see the only option is direct confrontation. The move will also have far reaching implications for the stability of Iran and the Middle East and oil markets.

"We can expect to see an increase in the sabotage of oil installations and a heightening in the cycle of violence and retribution in the Ahwaz region. Separatist sentiment is also likely to rise further as Ahwazis have little interest in being governed by an elite in Tehran that refuses to obey its own constitutional requirement to equal rights. The alienation of Ahwazi Arabs is only helping to polarise opinion, marginalising moderates like Shadidzadeh.

"Ahwazi democrats fear that the failure of the international community to take action to address the serious problems affecting Ahwazi Arabs is inflaming the situation further, leading to a growth in extremism and a wider security problems and a threat to global oil supplies - the Ahwaz region's oilfields contain 90 per cent of Iran's oil reserves."

Labels: activism

02 November, 2006

Ahwazis join demonstration against Khatami in London

Ahwazis were among the hundreds demonstrating outside Chatham House in London where former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami was lecturing on Iran domestic and foreign policies.

Chatham House is one of the world's leading think tanks for the analysis of international issues. At the meeting, Khatami discussed the use of torture and the recent British debate about the Muslim veil.

Mohammed Khatami presided over an administration that executed hundreds of its opponents, oppressed women and ethnic and religious minorities and crushed student and trade union activism.

Yet, the British establishment is praising this human rights abuser as a "reformist" and awarding him with an honorary doctorate at one of the UK's leading universities. Khatami is neither a reformer nor a democrat, but a murderous tyrant. Numbering five million people, Iran's Ahwazis are just one of many groups that faced violent persecution under Khatami and continue to face state terrorism under his successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Khatami's stated plan, revealed in letters leaked to Al-Jazeera TV last year, was to reduce the Arab population from 70 per cent of the total population of Khuzestan - known to its Ahwazi Arab inhabitants as Al-Ahwaz or Arabistan - to 30 per cent by forcing Ahwazi Arabs out of their homes and enticing people from outside the province with jobs and interest-free loans denied to the indigenous population. Under Khatami, Ahwazi Arabs faced an official policy of discrimination and repression that has led to African levels of poverty - yet their homeland is one of the world's most oil-rich areas and the backbone of the Iranian economy!

Last year while Khatami was still in power, UN Special Rapporteur Miloon Kothari visited the areas devastated by Khatami's violent campaign which made hundreds of thousands of Ahwazi Arabs homeless in their own land. This is what he had to say: "[I]n Khuzestan [...] large development projects, like petrochemical plants, are being built leading to the displacement of entire villages - with thousands of people not consulted on the projects, informed of the impending displacement, nor offered adequate resettlement and compensation [...] the compensation being offered to the Arab villagers who were being displaced is sometimes one fortieth of the market value - and there is nothing they can do about it. It's a fait accompli. And all of these phenomena are continuing. It's something that is happening almost every day."

In April 2005, Ahwazi Arabs staged an unarmed uprising against Khatami's ethnic cleansing programme. The 'reformist' president moved swiftly to crush the intifada, with 25,000 Ahwazis arrested and hundreds more executed, killed unlawfully or 'disappeared'. Entire families have been imprisoned, including children as young as two and four years old.

Pictures of Ahwazis in the anti-Khatami demonstration outside Chatham House:

Labels: activism , UK

31 October, 2006

Ahwazi rally for Eid ul-Fitr

London's Ahwaz Arab community celebrated Eid ul-Fitr on Saturday, with food, traditional music and speeches on the Ahwazi movement.

The Eid celebration was organised by the Ahwaz Community Association (ACA) and was attended by people of all faiths - an indication of the community's inclusive and tolerant nature.

ACA committee members spoke of the organisation's achievements over the past year, which has seen a greater emphasis on Ahwazi women.

Up to five million Ahwazi Arabs live in and around Al-Ahwaz, which was renamed Khuzestan after it was overrun by troops belonging to the Iranian dictator Reza Pahlavi in 1925 and its Arab ruler deposed. Since then, Ahwazi Arabs have faced racial discrimination and rising levels of poverty despite their homeland's position as one of the world's most oil-rich regions.

Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, has become a day when Ahwazi Arabs demonstrate their opposition to the Iranian regime. This year Ahwazi Arab youths defied the Iranian security forces and used Eid to call for Arab minority rights in protests across Ahwaz. Peaceful demonstrations were reportedly larger than last year's Eid demonstrations, when two Ahwazi Arab youths died when 3,000 Arabs attempted to march peacefully to the centre of Ahwaz City ( click here for further details ). Youths gathered in the Hay Al-Thurah (Dairah) district of Ahwaz City after Eid prayers, where the Ahwazi Intifada began in April 2005. The demonstrators chanted anti-regime slogans and called for the release of political prisoners and an end to state violence. Some carried Ahwazi flags or painted their hands with the colours of the Ahwazi flag ( click here for further details ).

The UK has a 3,000 strong Ahwazi Arab population, which is the largest expatriate community outside the Middle East. Many Ahwazi Arabs have come to the UK seeking political asylum having faced violent persecution under the Iranian regime. The ACA is the main contact point for the community, providing social activities and support.

Labels: activism , UK

Ahwazis support protest against Khatami's London visit

Ahwazi organisations have given their full support to a demonstration against Khatami's visit to London on Wednesday 1 November.

The demonstration, which will be held outside Chatham House where Khatami is due to speak, is being organised by a number of Iranian left-wing and human rights organisations.

The protestors will call for Khatami's arrest for crimes against humanity, particularly in relation to his administration's murderous treatment of student activists, women, minorities, trade unionists and homosexuals.

Ahwazi groups hope to bring attention to the treatment of ethnic minorities in Iran, including the ethnic cleansing they suffered under Khatami's orders.

Click here to download a leaflet protesting against Khatami's visit, published by the British Ahwazi Friendship Society

Protest details:

Wednesday 1 November 2006, 4:30 â 6:30pm
Chatham House
10 St James's Square
London SW1Y 4LE
Nearest tube station: Piccadilly Circus /Green Park

Speakers:
- Sofie Buckl, National Executive of the National Union of Students
-Azar Majedi, Director of the Organisation for Women's Liberation
-Maryam Namazie, 2005 Secularist of the Year, Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran's International Relations Committee
- Keyvan Javid, Worker-communist Party of Iran

Labels: activism , UK

Anger over Khatami's honorary degree

Ahwazi activists have joined the growing chorus of anger over a decision by Scotland's elite St Andrews University to award former Iranian president Muhammed Khatami an honorary doctorate.

Khatami will today be handed the doctorate by the university, whose chancellor is Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell. Khatami will also open the university's Institute for Iranian Studies, which is supported by regime officials. While the university has lauded Khatami as a 'reformer', opposition activists have testified to the state terrorism faced by students, ethnic and religious minorities, trade unionists, homosexuals and women under his presidency.

The National Union of Students (NUS) has demanded that the invitation to Khatami should be withdrawn unless Ahmad Batebi, a student jailed in 1999 during a pro-democracy protest, is freed. However, the university's student association which is not a member of the NUS has voiced its support for the human rights abuser. It claims Khatami has helped reconcile Islam with Christianity and Judaism - a claim that is belied by the fact that Khatami's administration waged a war of terror against minorities in Iran.

Khatami also ordered the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Ahwazi Arabs in a programme of "demographic restructuring". Since an Ahwazi Arab uprising against Khatami's government in April 2005, 25,000 Ahwazi Arabs have been arrested and hundreds more have been executed, unlawfully killed or disappeared.

Nasser Bani Assad, spokesman for the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, said: "Despite the facts, St Andrews University and the university's Students Association continue to rally behind the former president, playing down his crimes against humanity and repeating the regime's propaganda verbatim. They appear to approve of Khatami's role as the smiling diplomatic facade of a brutal government.

"The Iranian opposition may be ideologically divided, but it is united in its condemnation and revulsion of the decision by St Andrews University to reward human rights abuse.

"This appeasement of a regime guilty of terrorist acts against its own civilians as well as foreign country is approved by the leader of the Liberal Democrats. If he ever lived in Iran, I wonder how long the authorities would allow him to preach liberal democracy before sending him to the torture chambers in Tehran's Evin Prison, which is now home to many liberal democrats - including Ahwazi UN-registered refugees recently kidnapped from Syria and sent to Iran, despite protests from the UNHCR.

"It is sickening that members of the British political establishment, British academia and even some Scottish students are shaking hands with a man who has thwarted democracy and crushed human rights in Iran."

Click here to download a letter sent from the presidential office during Khatami's administration on the procedure to change the ethnic composition of Khuzestan (Al-Ahwaz) and eradicate Arab language and culture in the province.

Click here for the NUS's statement opposing Khatami's visit to the UK.

Click here for BAFS's leaflet protesting against Khatami's visit to the UK.

Sign the petition condemning Khatami's honorary degree

Labels: activism , UK

24 October, 2006

Ahwazi youths defy Iran regime with Eid protests

Iranian security forces block a road in Ahwaz City

Ahwazi Arab youths defied the Iranian security forces and used Eid ul-Fitr - an Islamic festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan - to call for Arab minority rights in protests across Ahwaz.

Peaceful demonstrations were reportedly larger than last year's Eid demonstrations, when two Ahwazi Arab youths died when 3,000 Arabs attempted to march peacefully to the centre of Ahwaz City ( click here for further details ). Youths gathered in the Hay Al-Thurah (Dairah) district of Ahwaz City after Eid prayers, where the Ahwazi Intifada began in April 2005. The demonstrators chanted anti-regime slogans and called for the release of political prisoners and an end to state violence. Some carried Ahwazi flags or painted their hands with the colours of the Ahwazi flag.

An Ahwazi youth

A large police contingent was deployed to the district along with other members of the security services in plain clothes. Camcorders, mobile phones and cameras were confiscated and there were an unknown number of arrests. The protestors were banned from demonstrating in a bazaar area allocated to Eid celebrations as well as Farhani Street, which was closed off by a police cordon. Instead they gathered outside Sayed Hamdan Mosque where they were confronted by the police and security forces, but staged a peaceful demonstration.

The Ahwazi demonstrators had defied the regime's attempts to intimidate them. In the month prior to Ramadan over 1,400 Ahwazi Arabs had been arrested in a massive police crack-down on dissent ( click here for further information ). The mass arrests were ostensibly carried out to seize illegal satellite dishes and tackle organised crime, but their timing, the extent of the arrests and the people arrested in the operations indicated that the government intended to crush dissent and prevent broadcasts by exiled Ahwazi parties to the region.

Labels: activism

21 October, 2006

Ahwazi cultural festival in London

The Ahwaz Cultural Association UK is holding a festival to celebrate Ahwazi culture marking the end of Ramadan, on Saturday 28 October. The event will run from 5-11pm and will be held at the Coplestone Centre, Coplestone Road, Peckham, London, SE15 4NA. For further information, telephone: .

Labels: activism

10 October, 2006

Ahwazis back African Union action on Darfur

Ahwazi Arab groups have joined British politicians, academics and human rights campaigners in calling for greater international action to prevent genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

Director of the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation Karim Abdian, senior Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz official Mansour Silawi Ahwazi and Nasser Bani Assad of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) are among the 55 signatories of a petition by the Henry Jackson Society for greater support for African Union peace enforcement troops in Sudan. Other signatories include Nobel Peace Prize winner Lord Trimble, academics such as Prof Vernon Bogdanor and Prof Roger Scruton and think tank members such as John Lehman and Bruce Jackson.

The petition, which was sent to the EU, US, British, German, French, Indian and South African governments, called the Sudanese government's treatment of black Darfurians a "calculated strategy of intimidation and ethnic cleansing ... designed to kill, remove or enslave black people in Darfur", killing 200,000 and forced two million people from their homes. It warned that "should the situation deteriorate further, it will spill over and damage an already unstable region, creating a breeding ground for extremism and terror" and accused China of supporting repressive African regimes in return for oil concessions.

BAFS spokesman Nasser Bani Assad said: "Ahwazi Arabs stand in solidarity with all oppressed minorities, even when the oppressor is an Arab-led government like Sudan. We believe that the international community must act forcefully to prevent ethnic cleansing wherever it occurs.

"The Ahwazis have a common cause with the Darfurians. Both are being oppressed in the name of religion and both are being cleansed from their homelands for the sake of Chinese exploitation of oil resources. The Chinese have large oil concessions in Southern Darfur and Sinopec has a 51 per cent stake in the massive Yadavaran oilfield which lies in the Ahwazi Arab homeland. Both Ahwazis and Darfurians are impoverished and forced from their lands because greedy foreign oil companies want to drain their homelands' resources."

Click here for full HJS letter

Labels: activism

27 September, 2006

Iran accuses BAFS of terrorism

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini has accused London police of supporting a rally of Ahwazi Arab "terrorists" in response to a recent demonstration by Ahwazis outside the House of Commons earlier this year, which was called by members of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) - click here for more information .

In one of the Islamic Republic's ritual attacks on Britain, Hosseini told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that the British government was meddling in Iran's affairs for allowing Ahwazi Arabs to demonstrate in London ( click here for IRNA's report ). Only two demonstrations have been staged in London this year, both of which were organised by BAFS activists. He also claimed that the British authorities had declared a "premature amnesty" for terrorists involved in the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege, maintaining that the government was guilty of hypocrisy.

BAFS spokesman Nasser Bani Assad said: "Hosseini's claims are so absurd they are comical. The demonstration held at the House of Commons was strictly peaceful and lawful. Under current anti-terrorism legislation, all demonstrations in Parliament Square require the approval of the Metropolitan Police. Approval is not the same as political support. Ahwazi activists sought and secured the approval of the police to protest, which is a democratic right they enjoy in the UK but are denied in their own country.

"BAFS is committed to non-violent peaceful means of winning rights for the persecuted Ahwazi Arabs. We oppose violence in all its forms. We are not a terrorist organisation nor do we co-operate with any group involved in violence of any kind. Unlike the Iranian regime, we respect international law and the law of the UK and BAFS is not a proscribed organisation - even in Iran!

"Hosseini should also get his facts correct on the embassy siege. The British army killed all but one of the hostage takers that beseiged the embassy. The surviving hostage taker, Fowzi Badawi Nejad, remains in prison, despite being eligible for parole last year. In May, he was moved from an open prison to a high security prison along with 140 other foreign prisoners due to a separate political controversy over foreign prisoners in British prisons.

"Hosseini is a hypocrite and a liar. His claims have no foundation. He is trying to pressure the British government to silence the legitimate demands of the Ahwazi Arab people and to force it to stop accepting political refugees. If the British government has any sense, it will ignore the Iranian regime's demands and support peaceful struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran."

Labels: activism

25 September, 2006

Iranian Azeris protest in London

Iranian Azeris staged a protest outside the BBC World Service building in London over the Iranian government's ban on the study of the Turkish language in Iranian schools, according to the BBC's Persian Service.

Although Article 15 of the Iranian constitution allows minorities to study their own language alongside the dominant Farsi language, few Azeris are given the opportunity to study in their own language. Iran's Azeri population numbers 25 million, far outnumbering the population of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The BBC reported that 30 protestors from an Iranian Azeri group staged the two-hour London protest, holding banners with slogans reading "Down with Iranian Fascism", "Down with Iranian racism", "Stop killing and cultural genocide in Iran" and "The Turkish language will not die".

Protest organiser Shahrokh Mozahari said: "Millions of Azeri Turkish children are starting a new academic year but few of them have the right to study in their mother tongue."

He claimed the government's failure to allow children to be taught in their native language was a breach of their human rights. He added that Azeri children were at an unfair disadvantage as they are forced to learn in Farsi, a language that is often foreign to them when they start school.

Protestors claimed that the government's refusal to grant Azeris their constitutional right to learn in their native tongue had political motives. The authorities fear that minorities would push for greater autonomy within Iran unless they are forced to unify around a "national" identity dominated by Persian ethnicity. The only time when the Azeri and Kurdish minorities have been taught in their native language was in 1945-46 under the autonomous Azeri and Kurdish governments, which were dissolved when the Shah imposed his authority over the break-away regions.

The Turkish language movement is a major basis for Azeri mobilisation against the Iranian regime. Azeris comprise around a third of the Iranian population, but are often subjected to racist abuse by Persian chauvinists who characterise them as stupid. The recent publication of a cartoon in a hardline newspaper portraying Azeris as cockroaches led to violent protests in Tabriz and other towns and cities where Azeris are the dominant ethnic group.

IRAN: Continuing crackdown against peaceful critics - Amnesty International

Labels: activism

09 August, 2006

Amnesty Launches Indigenous Rights Petition

Amnesty International has launched a petition calling on states around the world to support the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the UN General Assembly in 2006.

August 9 marks International Day of the World's Indigenous People, yet Amnesty estimates that 370 million Indigenous women, men and children worldwide face racism, discriminatory laws and eviction from lands central to their cultures and livelihoods. These include 5.5 million Ahwazi Arabs, who have faced land confiscation and cultural and political repression since Tehran imposed central government control over their homeland in 1925.

The UN is edging towards approving global human rights standards to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples. The draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council at its historic first meeting in June. The Declaration must now be adopted by the UN General Assembly in order to become part of the body of international human rights standards.

The draft Declaration is intended to inspire and inform measures to address the widespread discrimination and deeply entrenched racism faced by Indigenous peoples in every region of the world.

The Declaration affirms the right of Indigenous peoples to have meaningful control over their own lives, to maintain their distinct cultural identities for future generations, and to have secure access to the lands and natural resources essential to their ways of life.

Canada, United States, Russia, New Zealand and Australia have opposed the adoption of the Declaration. It's feared that the small group of states that have opposed the Declaration will put pressure on other governments to join them in voting against the Declaration when it comes before the General Assembly later this year.

In order to push through the declaration, Amnesty International has launched a petition to urge governments to approve human rights for Indigenous peoples. The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) is one of the organisations backing the petition.

Click here to sign Amnesty International's petition supporting the UN General Assembly's approval of the draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Labels: activism , Amnesty

06 August, 2006

Amnesty Belgium demonstrates outside Syrian embassy over Ahwazi refugees

Amnesty International Belgium held a demonstration outside the Syrian embassy in Brussels on Friday to protest at the detention of Ahwazi refugees in Damascus. Dutch national Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri (60), leader of the Ahwaz Liberation Organisation (ALO) which supports independence for Arab regions of Iran, has also been detained illegally by the Syrian authorities.

One detained Ahwazi, Saeed Awdeh al-Saki, who was due to be moved to Norway by the UNHCR, has been removed to Iran by the Syrian authorities where he faces torture and possible execution.

Over the past year, international NGOs and UN agencies have documented the persecution of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran. Many Arabs believe that the Syrian government's decision to detain Ahwazis indicates that President Bashar Al-Assad is willing to sacrifice solidarity with persecuted Arabs for the sake of his new-found allegiance to Tehran.

According to the Gulf Times, the Dutch government has demanded an explanation from Syria over Al-Mansouri's detention. Al-Mansouri has been a resident of Maastricht in the Netherlands since he fled to the country in 1989.

Photos submitted to BAFS by the Ahwaz Liberation Organisation .

Links
Statement by Amnesty Maastricht on the detention of Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri (in Dutch)
U.N. tells Syria not to extradite Ahwazi refugees - 7 June 2006, Ya Libnan
Amnesty International report on fear of forcible return and torture of Ahwazi refugees - 2 June 2006, Amnesty International
Syria releases three Ahwazis, but four remain in custody - 19 May 2006, BAFS
Syrian human rights activists arrested amid Ahwazi deportation scandal - 17 May 2006, BAFS
Syria's deportation scandal - 16 May 2006, BAFS
Syria arresting Ahwazi Arabs to please Iran - 16 May 2006, Ya Libnan

Labels: activism , Amnesty , Mansouri

03 August, 2006

"Tehran is a racist state, as well as a homophobic one" - Human and gay rights activist

One of Britain's leading human rights and gay rights activists, Peter Tatchell, has condemned the Iranian regime's planned execution of 10 Ahwazi Arabs as racist.

He has backed the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation's call on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to intervene to stop the executions and the regime's ethnic cleansing agenda in Khuzestan, the homeland of the Ahwazi Arabs.

"The Iranian regime is planning the imminent execution of 10 Arab human rights activists from Khuzestan province in the south-west of Iran. They were sentenced to death after secret trials in June. The Iranian supreme court upheld their death sentences on 25 July," warned Mr Tatchell.

"Iran's Arab minority, who call themselves Ahwazis, are subjected to systematic prejudice and persecution by the Persian chauvinist Tehran regime.

"It is believed that both the gay teenagers executed in the city of Mashhad on 19 July 2005 were Ahwazis. The ethnic background of Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni may have been a contributing factor that led to their execution.

"It is important that the gay community shows solidarity with all the victims of the murderous Iranian regime - and that other victims show solidarity with gay Iranians. United together, the Iranian people can triumph over the clerical dictatorship.

"A further 22 Arab activists are expected to be handed death sentences at the end of their trials, which are being held in secret with no independent observers allowed to attend the court. They are victims of trumped up charges, for which there is no evidence.

"The Tehran regime is now holding Ahwazi children as young as 2 and 4 years old as hostages in prison, in a bid to force their political and human rights activist parents (who are on the run and in hiding) to surrender to the police. If the parents hand in themselves to the authorities, their children will be released, but they will face execution.

"In the last year, 25,000 Ahwazis have been arrested, 131 executed and 150 have disappeared (presumed killed and buried in unmarked graves), according to the Ahwazi Human Rights Organization.

"The Ahwazis are one of Iran's several persecuted national minorities who are subjected to racist victimisation by the Tehran regime. Other maltreated minorities include the Balochis, Turkmen and Azeris.

"Iran is a racist state, with a covert agenda for the ethnic cleansing of the Ahwazi Arab people.

"Tehran's land seizures, forced population relocations, massacres, arrests, jailings, tortures and executions of Ahwazi Arabs are crimes against humanity under international law.

"Despite living in the region of Iran richest in oil, the Ahwazi Arab people are victims of a cruel, deliberate impoverishment by the Iranian regime, with half the population living in gross poverty and 80 percent of children suffering from malnutrition.

"We support the efforts of the Iranian people to end the racist, homophobic and misogynist tyranny in Tehran and to establish a democratic, secular state that ensures human rights for all the ethnic, sexual, religious and cultural minorities of Iran.

"Foreign military intervention in Iran would be morally wrong and counter-productive. Reform must come from within, by and for the Iranian people themselves," said Mr Tatchell.

Related stories: :
Death sentence for Ahwazis confirmed by Supreme Court - 31 July
Son of Ahwazi sentenced to death appeals to Kofi Annan - 27 July
Urgent Appeal to EU Foreign Affairs Chief over Iran Executions - 11 July Iran: Retry Ethnic Arabs Condemned to Death - 24 June
UNPO Urgent Appeal Concerning Ahwazi Executions
Ahwazis face arrest, deportation and execution - 1 June
Amnesty International: Eleven Ahwazis Face Execution - 17 May
Iran prepares for new round of executions in Ahwaz - 13 May
Executed: Young Men Hung by Iranian Tyrants - 2 March
Iran prepares to execute tribal family - 19 February
Iran sentences seven over Ahwaz bombings - 15 February
Iran increases repression in Ahwaz - 8 February
Ahwaz Bombings Come After Weeks of Unrest - 24 January

Labels: activism , human rights

25 July, 2006

BAFS launches collaborative Arab language blog

The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) has launched a collaborative blog run by Ahwazis in its effort to support access to the alternative media for the Ahwazi community. AHWAZ BLOG allows Ahwazi supporters of minority rights and democratic revolution in Iran to write in their own words.

Blog membership is open to any Ahwazi who is committed to non-violent resistance, democratic politics and free speech. It is not supportive of any particular party line.

To get involved, please write to the blog administrator:

Labels: activism

19 July, 2006

NEW AHWAZI WEBSITE LAUNCHED

This week Ahwazi activists launched a new promotional website for Ahwazi democrats, AHWAZ MEDIA .

The website contains the latest news from the Ahwazi Arab homeland as well as a store selling pro-Ahwazi products, book recommendations and the latest programmes from Al-Ahwaz TV .

Visitors are able to read opinions on debates relevant to Ahwazi Arabs and other Iranian minorities and are given a chance to express their opinions in an on-line poll.

AHWAZ MEDIA is the largest English language website dedicated to Ahwazis and is set to become a crucial part of Ahwazi advocacy and solidarity campaigns in the West. With Iran's state repression of the persecuted and impoverished Ahwazi Arab minority increasing under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, AHWAZ MEDIA is an important link between Ahwazi activists and the outside world.

Labels: activism

21 June, 2006

Ahwazi Arabs Event in Westminster Palace

Report by the Henry Jackson Society :

The Henry Jackson Society, concerned with the plight of the Ahwazi Arabs of Iran, organised a briefing discussion with various interested parties on 19th June 2006, in the Houses of Parliament, London. The event was chaired by Graham Stuart MP, with a special introductory speech by Lord Trimble.

The Henry Jackson Society believes that the Ahwazi Arabs of Iran face ongoing injustice and oppression from the regime in Tehran. We aim to highlight their suffering and we think that any settlement with the Iranian authorities must not come without considering both the Ahwazis' future and the protection of their human rights.

The Ahwazi Arabs reside, for the most part, in Khuzestan province of southwestern Iran.

Khuzestan holds a geo-strategically crucial position. It is the gateway between the Arab world and Asia, it contains almost ninety percent of Iran's oil resources and it is the obvious point of entry from Iran into Iraq and vice-versa.

The determination of the Tehran regime to exploit Khuzestan's resources has led to the oppression of the local Ahwazi Arab population, who are subject to abuses ranging from cultural repression to whole-scale 'ethnic cleansing'.

The Ahwazi Arabs, though, may be fated to play a key role in a new democratic geopolitics of the Middle East. In an ideal scenario, their national aspirations, and those of the Turks, Kurds, Baluchis and other Arabs, who make up over half of the population of Iran, would serve as a vehicle for the democratic transformation of Iran.

Addressing the Ahwazi problem would also help to stabilise the coalition position in southern Iraq, by disrupting terrorist networks across the border. The current militarisation of an area of Khuzestan adjacent to the Iraqi border is displacing large numbers of indigenous Ahwazi Arabs living in the area and provides the Iranian regime with a springboard from which to intervene into Iraq.

The 'Ahwazi issue' could also provide a valuable common national project to unite the emerging democracy in Iraq.

Failure to address the Ahwazi issue could carry serious repercussions economically, as well as politically. Supply from Khuzestan's vast oil reserves can only be safe-guarded, in the long-term, by ensuring that the local people are given a reasonable share of the wealth it generates. At present, they are denied an equitable distribution of resources.

Any solution to the 'Iranian' problem must include safeguards for the Ahwazi Arabs.

Links
While the West fiddles, Iran's people... by Martyn Frampton
Re-interpreting Iran by Gabriel Glickman
Safeguarding the Ahwazi Arabs: Essential for a Stable and Democratic Middle East by Daniel Brett
Democracy, Ethnicity and Repression in Iran: The Plight of the Ahwazi Arabs by Daniel Brett

Labels: activism

11 June, 2006

Pet Shop Boys Dedicates Album to Ahwazi Boys Executed in Iran

British pop band Pet Shop Boys has dedicated its latest album "Fundamental" to Muhammad Askari (Mahmoud Asgari) and Ayaad Marhuni (Ayaz Marhoni), two Ahwazi Arab teenagers executed after being accused of homosexuality. The album by one the UK's leading pop music acts went straight to number five in the British charts when it was released two weeks ago. It is due to be released in the US on 26 June.

The 17 year olds were executed in July 2005 in Mashhad in northeastern Iran, where their families had been forcibly relocated from Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan) under the Iranian regime's ethnic restructuring programme. The regime had portrayed them as serial child rapists and professional criminals. In one interview with the regime's Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), a pro-government academic claimed that people from their social group (implicitly their race) were prone to rape and robbery with violence.

The executions (pictured right) were carried out during a wave of anti-government protests by Ahwazi Arabs in Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan). Some Ahwazi activists believe that the death sentences, carried out in Mashhad's Justice Square, were staged to portray Arabs in a bad light.

The British gay rights group Outrage! published a lengthy and detailed investigation into the Askari and Marhuni cases and other instances of state violence against gay people, as well as "honour" killings by relatives who fear that their clan and ethnic group will be tarnished by revelations of homosexuality ( click here to download the report ).

Outrage has also supported Ahwazi rights. Peter Tatchell (pictured at a London demonstration by Ahwazi Arabs in April), one of the group's founding members and a leading activist in the Green Party, has spoken out against what he has called the ethnic cleansing of Ahwazi Arabs.

The Pet Shop Boys' album dedication raises the profile of the suppression of ethnic and sexual minorities in Iran.

Links
The threat of Tehran in Ahwaz - Peter Tatchell, 24 April 2006
Rights Activist Peter Tatchell Joins Ahwazi Protest in London - BAFS, 22 April 2006
Iran's Execution of Gays Part of Ethnic Repression - BAFS, 24 July 2005
Iran continues to execute minors and juvenile offenders - Amnesty International, 22 July 2005

Labels: activism

19 May, 2006

Iran censors BAFS website

The Iranian government has barred Iranians from accessing the website of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS).

The ban, imposed this month, follows a hacking attack last month which closed down the website for 24 hours ( click here for more information ). BAFS has been in discussions with other organisations promoting human rights and democracy in Iran who have faced similar attacks. A Whois trace on one IP involved in hacking attempts was traced to the offices of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs while others were routed via impossible locations such as Somalia, Togo and the Cocos Islands. Some have claimed that Chinese software was used in the hacking attacks.

Iran is notoriously paranoid about Iranians accessing information on the internet and has also clamped down on the country's blogging community.

BAFS Chairman Daniel Brett said: "I am surprised it took them so long to ban the BAFS website in Iran. Being banned by the Iranian government is something of a badge of honour for us. It is a desperate act by a regime that has no legitimacy and no democratic mandate from the people it rules.

"Whether it is censoring the internet, imprisoning children, staging show trials or carrying out disappearances, assassinations and lynchings, every time the regime steps up its repression, the Ahwazi movement strengthens and unifies and support grows. The attacks and now the ban on the BAFS website will only raise its importance.

"We're not particularly bothered by the ban anyway as the purpose of the website is to publicise the Ahwaz issue outside Iran. Nevertheless, it is a shame that the hundreds of Iranians who visit our website every week are no longer able to read what is happening to the Ahwazi Arabs.

"BAFS has consistently stated that it does not support separatism and opposes any invasion of Iran. The government fears the organisation's message of non-violent struggle for Ahwazi Arab rights, because the movement poses one of the greatest domestic challenges the regime has ever faced. It will not tolerate anything that contradicts its own propaganda. It will not tolerate Iranians learning the truth about oppression and injustice in Iran."

Labels: activism , media

16 May, 2006

Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran Visits European Parliament in Brussels

The following is an article by UNPO on lobbying by the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran, which includes the Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz.

Organized by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and in cooperation with Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Marco Pannella (ALDE and Transnational Radical Party), a delegation of the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran (CNFI) meets with MEPs between 8 and 10 May 2006.

On 8 May, the CNFI delegation, accompanied by UNPO General Secretary Mr Marino Busdachin, started a first round of meetings with MEPs to inform and highlight matters of concern to the various nationalities in Iran regarding the current human rights situation. This included a meeting with Mr Graham Watson (ALDE).

Additional meetings have been scheduled with MEPs Mr Struan Stevenson (Christian Democrats), Mr Simon Coveney (Christian Democrats), Dr Ingo Friedrich (Christian Democrats), Ms Pia Elda Locatelli (Socialist Group), Ms Christa Prets (Socialist Group) and Mr Paulo Casaca (Socialist Group) and other EU officials.

UNPO and the Transnational Radical Party will jointly advocate for a resolution in the European Parliament to protect the rights of minorities in Iran, advocating that due consideration be given to the situation of the different nationalities and minority groups in Iran and that their basic human rights are respected and upheld.

For more information about the CNFI, please visit: www.iranfederal.org

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation

Labels: activism

13 May, 2006

Ahwazis at parliamentary conference on self-determination

The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) this week participated in a conference on self-determination hosted by Lord Nazir Ahmed at the British Houses of Parliament (Lord Ahmed is pictured with Ahwazi activists).

Lord Ahmad, who chairs the Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination (PNSD), Liberal Democrat President Simon Hughes MP, Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) leader Elfyn Llwyd MP, Conservative MEP Daniel Hannon, Scottish Nationalist MP Peter Wishart and Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) General Secretary Marino Busdachin were among the participants at the meeting which sought to explore common goals and challenges among nationalist movements ( click here for more details ).

Self-determination is a fundamental human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is regarded as an important instrument in conflict resolution. The PNSD, which organised the meeting, is a forum for aspiring nation states to advocate the management of their own internal affairs, development and nurturing of their national resources, and direct external engagement with international bodies to promote economic, environmental and cultural co-operation for mutual benefit.

Aside from Ahwazis, the conference was attended by Sikhs, Kashmiris, Nagas, Assamese, Manipuris, Kurds, Chechens, Palestinians, Kosovans and Tamils.

Labels: activism , minorities

22 April, 2006

Rights Activist Peter Tatchell Joins Ahwazi Protest in London

One of Britain's leading human rights activists, Peter Tatchell, joined Ahwazi Arabs in a protest against the Iranian regime outside the Houses of Parliament on Friday.

Photo: Peter Tatchell with Ahwazi demonstrators outside the Houses of Parliament in London

London's Metropolitan Police gave their permission for the demonstration by Ahwazi Arabs, despite new laws restricting protest in Parliament Square and Whitehall, indicating that the British authorities believe the Ahwazis are law-abiding and peaceful.

The protests marked the 81st anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Al-Ahwaz or Arabistan (Khuzestan) by Iran. Al-Ahwaz was an autonomous Arab emirate recognised by Iran's Qajar dynasty and the British government until it was over-run by forces loyal to Reza Pahlavi on 21 April 1925. The occupation was backed by the British, who believed a strong centralised Iranian state was necessary to guard against the influence of Russian Bolshevism in the Middle East.

Although their land is rich in oil, fertile land and water resources, the Ahwazi Arabs have endured increasing hardship and persecution under the Pahlavi dynasty and later the Islamic Republic.

In April 2005, exactly 80 years after the invasion of Al-Ahwaz, Ahwazi Arabs staged an uprising or intifada against the regime to protest against ethnic persecution, forced displacement and human rights abuses. The security forces temporarily lost control over large parts of the southwestern province. Since then, thousands of Ahwazis have been incarcerated and hundreds have been killed by the regime as it seeks to reassert power over the region.

On the first anniversary of the 2005 uprising, Peter Tatchell said: "As a gay and human rights campaigner, and as a member of the Green Party of England and Wales, I express my solidarity with the freedom struggle of the Ahwazi Arab people.

"Human rights are universal and indivisible. Wherever there is injustice and oppression, people have a right to rebel. It is the duty of all people everywhere to stand together, united in solidarity against all oppression.

"Iran is a racist state, with a covert agenda for the ethnic cleansing of the Ahwazi Arab nation. This is a crime against humanity under international law.

"The massacres, arrests, jailings, tortures and executions of Ahwazi Arabs are a blot on the conscience of the world.

"Despite living in the region of Iran richest in oil, the Ahwazi Arab people are victims of a cruel, deliberate impoverishment by the Iranian regime.

"This monstrous injustice must end. The tyrannical clerical dictatorship in Tehran must go, and be replaced by a democratic, secular state that ensures human rights and self-government for the Ahwazi Arab people - and freedom for all the ethnic, sexual, religious and cultural minorities of Iran." ( click here for statement )

Photo: Peter Tatchell addresses the demonstration

Photo: Peter Tatchell giving his speech, opposite the Houses of Parliament

Photo: Peter Tatchell calls for an end to the ethnic cleansing of Ahwazi Arabs

Photo: Ahwazis outside Britain's Parliament building

Photo: Kurds fly their flag alongside the Ahwazi flag in a show of solidarity

Photo: Ahwazis demonstrating for the release of Ahwazi women and children being held in custody in Iran

Photo: An Ahwazi boy showing solidarity for Ahwazi children currently in prison in Iran

Photo: An Ahwazi girl calls for the release of Ahwazi children

Photo: Protestors condemn fascism and racism in Iran

Photo: The demonstration was supported by a number of Ahwazi political parties, as well as ethnic Kurds and Persians from Iran

These pictures may be reproduced for non-profit purposes provided they credit the British Ahwazi Friendship Society

Link: Ahwazis demonstrate outside the European Commission offices in London

Labels: activism

14 April, 2006

Messages of Solidarity for Ahwazis for Intifada Anniversary

The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) has received the following messages of solidarity from Portuguese Socialist MEP Paulo Casaca, who heads the European Parliament's delegation to NATO, and the prominent British human rights activist and Green Party member Peter Tatchell ahead of the anniversary of last year's 15 April Ahwazi Arab uprising in Iran.

Paulo Casaca

It has been with a deep revulsion that I have been receiving the sad news of the brutal and criminal repression of the ethnic Arab minority in Iran, most specially, the attack on the families of dissident political activists.

I would ask you to convey to the families and closest friends of those who are murdered, of those who see their wives and children been dragged to prison and torture, my full solidarity.

In this occasion, I would like to convey to you my full solidarity to the struggle of the democratic Ahwazi Resistance against this barbaric regime that in the name of religion and holy values practices the most vile and sordid acts.

Link: Paulo Casaca MEP

Peter Tatchell

As a gay and human rights campaigner, and as a member of the Green Party of England and Wales, I express my solidarity with the freedom struggle of the Ahwazi Arab people.

Human rights are universal and indivisible. Wherever there is injustice and oppression, people have a right to rebel. It is the duty of all people everywhere to stand together, united in solidarity against oppression.

Iran is a racist state, with a covert agenda for the ethnic cleansing of the Ahwazi Arab nation. This is a crime against humanity under international law.

The massacres, arrests, jailing, tortures and executions of Ahwazi Arabs are a blot on the conscience of the world.

Despite living in the region of Iran richest in oil, the Ahwazi Arab people are victims of a cruel, deliberate impoverishment by the Iranian regime.

This monstrous injustice must end. The tyrannical clerical dictatorship in Tehran must go, and be replaced by a democratic, secular state that ensures human rights and self-government for the Ahwazi Arab people and freedom for all ethnic, sexual, religious and cultural minorities.

Link: Peter Tatchell

Ahwazi groups based in Europe will be holding a demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels on 15 April at 12 noon. Click here for more information .

Labels: activism , intifada

06 April, 2006

Leading Politician Supports Ahwazi Arab Democratic Resistance

A leading member of the European Parliament, Paulo Casaca, has pledged his support to the Ahwazi democratic resistance to the Iranian regime.

In a letter to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS), the Portuguese Socialist MEP who leads the European Parliament's delegation to NATO, expressed disgust at the "brutal and criminal repression of the ethnic Arab minority in Iran". He highlighted the imprisonment of the wives and children - one of which is just two years old - of Ahwazi opposition activists. In the letter, he stated: "I would ask you to convey to the families and closest friends of those who are murdered, of those who see their wives and children dragged to prison and torture, my full solidarity."

He added that he was in "full solidarity" with "the struggle of the democratic Ahwazi Resistance against this barbaric regime that in the name of religion and holy values practices the most vile and sordid acts."

Mr Casaca has championed the Ahwazi Arab issue at a European level and managed to win cross-party support for European Parliament condemnation of forced displacement of Arabs near Ahwaz City . He has described Iran's land confiscation and the wave of human rights violations against the Ahwazis as "ethnic cleansing" and called on the European Commission to take action to address the situation.

Links
UNICEF called to intervene to stop detention of Ahwazi children and women - 2 April 2006
Iran is ethnic cleansing Ahwazis claims senior European politician - 19 January 2006
Iran Slammed for 'Barbarian' Treatment of Ahwazi Arabs - 12 March 2006
Iran begins ethnic cleansing of Minoo Island Arabs - 23 October 2005

Labels: activism

Iran cyber attack on BAFS website

The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) website has been attacked by hackers, along with a number of other groups campaigning against human rights violations in Iran.

The website, which is hosted in London, was down for 24 hours at the same time as the Iranian regime was imposing a media blackdown in Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan) while stepping up its campaign of ethnic cleansing against Ahwazi Arabs in the province.

The website of UK-based human rights group Outrage! , which recently published a statement highlighting the abuse of Ahwazi Arabs, has also been attacked for the third time in less than a year. As of 8.00am GMT, the website was still down. The group's website was previously attacked following a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in October last year, which was reported by the BBC Persian service. It was attacked a second time in March.

The opposition Iran Focus website was attacked in February in a denial of service (DOS) attack. An investigation found the attacks were being launched from Tehran. The website's owners suggested the hacking could have been the work of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), the successor of the Shah's dreaded SAVAK.

BAFS spokesman Nasser Bani Assad said: "It is quite an honour to be attacked by the Iranian regime. It shows they are frightened of the truth. But while they may be able to shut down a website for a few hours, they cannot stop information on their ethnic cleansing programme. The regime has banned Al-Jazeera from Al-Ahwaz for its coverage of peaceful Ahwazi anti-government protests, but we have scores of amateur journalists with digicams and mobile phone cameras collecting evidence and sending it down the internet. The desperate measures and the brutal intimidation no longer work - neither will website hacking."

Labels: activism

02 April, 2006

UNICEF called to intervene to stop detention of Ahwazi children and women

The British Ahwazi Friendship Society is called on UNICEF to intervene to stop the continued kidnapping and detention of young Ahwazi children and their mothers.

Last week, the wife and two young children of Ahwazi Arab opposition activist Habib Faraj-allah were kidnapped and taken into custody by the Iranian regime.

Hoda Hawashem (24) (pictured left), four year old Ahmed (centre) and two year old Osameh (right) are now in custody, along with other Ahwazi women and children.

Sakina Naisi, a 40 year old woman taken into custody in February when she was three months pregnant, has reportedly had to have an abortion after suffering physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her torturers. Sakina is the wife of Ahmad Naisi, a prominent political activist wanted by the authorities. Following her arrest, the authorities destroyed her husband's family home in the Sho'aybiyeh district of Ahwaz with bulldozers.

Sakina was among five people, including three women and two children, mentioned in a recent Amnesty International urgent action appeal, which called for their immediate release. Soghra Khudayrawi and her four year old son Zeidan and Masoumeh Kaabi and her four year old son Aimad have been in custody since February to punish their husbands for engaging in political activism ( click here for further details ).

Nasser Bani-Assad, spokesman for the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, said: "The detention of Ahwazi women and children amounts to kidnapping. None of them have committed any crime. It is a way of punishing political opposition to the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime is one of the most cruellest governments on earth, but the European Commission has failed to address these grotesque human rights abuses.

"The detention of children is in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is legally binding on Iran. President Ahmadinejad is breaking all the rules and must be brought to account by the international community for crimes committed by his government."

Leaflet: Release Ahwazi Children and Women

Labels: activism , UN , women

26 March, 2006

BAFS: ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

The British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) website celebrates its first anniversary this week.

BAFS was created in December 2004 to lobby on behalf of Ahwazi Arabs and attract international attention to their cause, which has never received the coverage it deserves. The Ahwazis endure ethnic persecution, high levels of poverty, forced displacement and state terrorism, despite being indigenous to one of the world's most oil-rich regions.

BAFS's position has been to support Ahwazi groups that are committed to non-violent means to foster change and promote human rights, equality ande democracy in Iran. It works in collaboration with the Democratic Solidarity Party of Ahwaz (DSPA), the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO), the Ahwaz Studies Centre, the Ahwaz Education and Human Rights Foundation and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO).

The organisation's website was launched in March 2005 during the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, where Mansour Silawi-Ahwazi of the DSPA and Sanjukta Ghosh representing the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation - both officers of the BAFS - met with UN officials to highlight issues affecting Ahwazis ( click here for article ).

The Ahwazis hit the headlines the following month when an intifada in Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan) was brutally put down by security forces, leading to more than 160 deaths. The unrest was sparked by the leak of a letter written by former Vice President Mohamed Ali Abtahi calling for the "ethnic restructuring" of Khuzestan to reduce the Arab population from 70 per cent to 30 per cent of the province's total ( click here for article ). BAFS was the first website to report the uprising and to publish the translation of the letter.

In July, UNHCR's Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing Miloon Kothari spoke of his outrage over the forced displacement of Ahwazi Arabs. Kothari's findings and BAFS's lobbying efforts prompted MEPs such as Paulo Casaca to include the condemnation of the forced migration of Ahwazi Arabs in a motion on Iran in October. The motion was sponsored by all the European Parliament's political groups and represented a major breakthrough for the Ahwazi lobbying campaign.

BAFS's coverage of the Ahwazi struggle against persecution and poverty has attracted plaudits from leading journalists, politicians, human rights groups and lobbyists. Many would not have known about the plight of the Ahwazis without BAFS's reputation as the only source of news and information on Ahwaz in the English language. Within just one year and with few resources, BAFS has helped transform the Ahwazi struggle from an unknown local dispute into an issue with important regional and international importance. Just this month, BAFS's work was acknowledged in feature articles in the Washington Times and Shaarq magazine, the UK's only English language publication the British Arab community.

BAFS Chairman Daniel Brett said: "The coming year will be crucial for the Ahwazi cause, which risks being drowned out by the arguments over Iran's nuclear programme. In the year ahead, we will be holding meetings at the House of Commons in London and the European Parliament and Commission in Brussels and will continue to build on our success in raising the profile of Ahwazis among NGOs, the United Nations and the media. We believe that the Ahwazis can only win freedom, peace and justice with international solidarity, not with bullets and guns."

Highlights of the past year:

Click on headline to view article
March 2005:
Ahwazi Women's Rights at the UN
Ahwazis with UNPO at Geneva

April 2005:
A tragic week in the history of Ahwaz
Ahwazi unity in EU appeal

May 2005:
HRW condemns Iran's violence in Khuzestan
Ahwaz hunger strike
Former Iranian MP in Ahwazi appeal

June 2005:
Ahwaz Arab voice at the UN in Geneva
Bodies of tortured Ahwazis found in Karoon River
Bomb blasts in Ahwaz City, Iran
UNPO Votes in Support of Indigenous Ahwazi Arabs in Iran
Ahwazi Arab Political Prisoner Released in Iran

July 2005:
Britain's Costain Group Condemned Over Iran Investment
Iran's Execution of Gays Part of Ethnic Repression
Anti-Government Demonstrations Erupt in Ahwaz

August 2005:
Iran: UN steps up criticism of minority discrimination
Iranian parliament rejects oil revenue to help poor

September 2005
Oil wells sabotaged in Ahwazi Arab homeland
Iran's mass arrest of Ahwazi tribal leaders and intellectuals
Basra Insurgency and Iran's Militarisation of Ahwaz

October 2005
Iran's Militarisation of the Shatt Al-Arab
Ahmadinejad reveals his policy in Ahwaz
Ahwaz link to Iran-backed insurgency in Iraq's Basra province
European Parliament Condemns Iran's Persecution of Arabs
Ahwaz bomb attack
Iran-UK Relations Threatened as New Bomb is "Discovered"
Abadan Refinery "Bomb Plot"
Iran uses Ahwazi Homeland as Terrorist Smuggling Route

November 2005
Amnesty Concern Over Bawi Brothers Death Sentence
UNHCR Highlights Plight of Ahwazi Refugees in Iraq
Details Emerge of Iran's Eid Crack-Down in Ahwaz

December 2005
Iran to build nuclear facility in Ahwazi Arab homeland
Iranian minorities parties meet with EU authorities
Majlis members protest at Karoon River diversion in Ahwaz

January 2006
Freed Ahwazi Arab prisoner speaks of treatment
Iran security forces attack Ahwazi anti-government protest
Iran's crack-down as Ahwaz Eid protests continue
Iran authorities arrest hundreds and shoot demonstrators in Ahwaz
Iran is ethnic cleansing Ahwazis claims senior European politician
Ahwaz bombings come after weeks of unrest
Joint Ahwazi statement against Ahwaz bomb attacks
Iran regime fails evidence test on Ahwaz bombings
Photos of two Ahwazis martyred by Iran
Khuzestan MPs threaten mass resignation over river diversion

February 2006
Ahwazi children in Iran's custody at risk of torture: Amnesty
Iran increases repression in Ahwaz
Iran sentences seven over Ahwaz bombings
Amnesty condemns Iran's treatment of ethnic minorities
Ahwaz tribal leader in appeal to Iran president
Bomb explodes in Ahwaz, no casualties Iran floods Ahwaz Arabs out of their homes
Ethnic Cleansing in full force in Iran
Al-Ahwaz witnesses three explosions

March 2006:
Regime executes Ahwazis, abuses pregnant woman and child
Executed: Young Ahwazi Men Hung
Bomb in Ahwaz City hours after executions
Mayor among the latest Ahwazis arrested by Iran regime
Iran's oil exports in danger due to rising Ahwaz unrest
Iran imprisons pregnant Ahwazi women and children - new details
Pictures: Ahwazi demonstration against Iranian fascism in London
Iran Slammed for 'Barbarian' Treatment of Ahwazi Arabs
Iran Criticised over Ahwaz Crisis at UNCHR
Teacher faces execution for bombings
Second attack on Ahwaz-Abadan pipeline?
Amnesty appeal for release of Ahwazi women and children

Labels: activism

12 March, 2006

Iran Slammed fror 'Barbarian' Treatment of Ahwazi Arabs

Portuguese Socialist MEP Paulo Casaca, the head of the European Parliament's delegation to NATO, has slammed the Iranian regime's "show trials" of Ahwazi Arabs.

He has also raised the possibility that the regime itself is responsible for terrorist attacks in Ahwaz in order to blame them on the Ahwazis, who hard-liners have accused of "waging war on God".

Mr Casaca has previously called Iran's treatment of its Ahwazi Arab population "ethnic cleansing", referring to the regime's mass expulsions of the indigenous Arab population of Khuzestan.

Following the latest wave of executions, he told the British Ahwazi Friendship Society that "the Iranian show trials seem to be heading still further than its Stalinist predecessors: people are convicted for putting bombs in the city in spite the fact that they were in custody while the bombings take place. It might be a particularly cynical way to confess that the State planted the bombs in the first place.

"The totalitarian theocracy that is oppressing Iranians and exporting its fanatic model elsewhere in the Middle East is nowhere so bararian as with its own citizens of Arab descent. How can the Arab World go on ignoring this?"

The Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a British think tank on foreign policy, has also brought attention to the persecution of Ahwazi Arabs following the executions. In an article on the HJS website, the society's Greater Middle East Section Director Martyn Frampton says: "Determined to secure access to energy resources and to use Khuzestan as a launch-pad for interfering in Iraq (which it borders), Ahmadinejad's regime has stepped up pre-existing repression of the province's Ahwazi Arab population. Falsely accused of 'disloyalty' to the state, the Ahwazis have been exposed to abuses ranging from cultural repression to whole-scale 'ethnic cleansing.'"

Mr Frampton also states that Iranian accusations of British responsibility for the Ahwaz bomb attacks, however unfounded, "mean that the UK, whether it wants to be or not, is involved." He criticises the West's fixation on the nuclear issue, while ignoring the problem of human rights abuse in Iran.

On Saturday, Ahwazi Arabs staged a demonstration outside the European Commission's offices in London calling on the European Union to stop being silent on the Iranian regime's imprisonment of pregnant Ahwazi women and children. They called on the EU to help protect the Ahwazis from Iran's violent ethnic cleansing project.

Links
"While the West Fiddles, Iran's People ..." , Martyn Framption, Henry Jackson Society
Iran is ethnic cleansing Ahwazis claims senior European politician , British Ahwazi Friendship Society, 19 January 2006

Labels: activism , human rights

11 March, 2006

Pictures: Ahwazi demonstration against Iranian fascism in London

On Saturday, members of London's Ahwazi Arab community and human rights activists staged a protest against the Iranian regime's abuse of women outside the European Commission offices in Westminster.

Click here for more details on the imprisonment and oppression of Ahwazi women and children.

A protestor holds a placard saying "European Union Stop Silence on Daily Executions in Al-Ahwaz by Iranian Regime"

Girls protest against the imprisonment of Ahwazi children in Iran

A baby boy carries a picture of four-year-old Aimad and his mother Masouma who are being held in Sepidar prison, where Ahwazis are known to have been tortured by the Iranian regime

A protestor holds up the pictures of two Ahwazi women currently in prison, with a placard saying: "Free Ahwazi Women and Children from Iranian Prisons"

Ahwazis gather in front of the European Commission's offices with pictures of the many Ahwazis who have been sentenced to death for peacefully campaigning for human rights

Protestors carrying Ahwazi flags and pictures of Ahwazi victims of the Iranian regime

Protestors hold up a banner saying: "Stop Fascism and Racism in Iran"

Labels: activism

10 March, 2006

Ahwazis stage London protest for women's rights in Iran

Ahwazi activists will be holding a demonstration on Saturday outside the European Commission's offices in London to bring attention to the oppression of Ahwazi women under the Iranian regime. The demonstration will begin at 1pm at 8 Storey's Gate ( ).

Ahwazi women suffer persecution on the basis of their ethnicity as well as their gender. Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan), the Ahwazi Arab homeland, has more oil than the United Arab Emirates and more poverty than Palestine.

Groups representing Ahwazis are seeking to bring attention to the plight of two Ahwazi women currently imprisoned by the regime: Masouma Kaabi and Sakina Niassi. Masouma, 28, is being held in custody with her four-year-old son Aimad (both pictured above) and her mother-in-law. The women and baby have been imprisoned to punish Ahwazi political activist Habib Nabgani, Masouma's husband and Aimad's father, but Aimad is reported to have fallen ill due to poor prison conditions.

Meanwhile, 40-year-old Sakina Niasi, an imprisoned pregnant Ahwazi woman, appears to have suffered a miscarriage as a result of her treatment in prison. Her life is at risk as she is reportedly receiving little or no medical treatment.

The imprisonment of women and children is a tactic used by the regime to silence opposition among Ahwazi Arabs, who have staged a number of large anti-government demonstrations since last April's intifada when the regime lost control over parts of Khuzestan province.

Click here to download a leaflet calling for Masouma and Sakina's freedom

Labels: activism , women

11 February, 2006

Appeal: donate to Al-Ahwaz TV

Message from Nasser Bani Assad, British Ahwazi Friendship Society :

Al-Ahwaz TV is the main form of communication between the Ahwazi Arabs and the outside world. Since it was set up two years ago, Al-Ahwaz TV has gone from strength to strength and become a vanguard for resistance to the mullahs.

With its motto "fight without violence, resist without hate", Al-Ahwaz TV is instrumental in supporting Ahwazi Arab opposition to the Iranian regime. The TV station is broadcast directly to Al-Ahwaz via satellite on the Assyrian TV channel.

Since Al-Ahwaz TV went on air in 2004, Ahwazis have led anti-government protests in Iran. The protests have been wedded to the principle of non-violent resistance, with the only casualties being unarmed protestors from the slums and villages who bravely face one of the world's most heavily armed and tyrannical states. Although many Ahwazi Arabs have been thrown out of their homes and had their lands stolen, they refuse to be humiliated or display allegiance to their oppressors and will continue to resist.

Ahwazi resistance has come in the form of simply wearing the keffiyeh, staging traditional Arabic plays, praying in public and blocking traffic. All these actions have been punished with lethal violence by the Iranian regime.

The mass mobilisation in Al-Ahwaz has strengthened in recent weeks, but sadly has had a heavy toll on the Ahwazi people. Elderly women have been filmed pleading for justice for their sons who are languishing in prison, only to be fired upon by armed policemen. Brave young men armed with nothing more than words and rocks have been shot dead in the streets and children as young as 11 have been rounded up and imprisoned, while Ahwazi tribal leaders, imams, intellectuals, teachers and journalists fear for their lives.

However, witnessing civil resistance on television has helped unite the Ahwazi Arabs and strengthen their resolve. Al-Ahwaz TV is central to this resistance. It is thanks to the team of dedicated and tireless volunteers who staff Al-Ahwaz TV that the resistance is kept alive in the hope of eventual freedom, democracy and justice for the Ahwazi people and the whole of Iran.

Two weeks ago, Al-Ahwaz TV went on-line with the assistance of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS). Since then, we have had thousands of video downloads, many of them from inside Iran. Ahwazis are evading the censors and listening to the message of non-violent resistance to the racist theocracy that oppresses them. They are also responding with positive feedback in emails and phone calls to Al-Ahwaz TV and are sending undercover film footage to be broadcast to the rest of the Ahwazi population.

Al-Ahwaz TV and BAFS receive no grants and we do not seek sponsorship from governments or corporations. We are proud of our political independence and the fact that we are part of a grass-roots movement that is being led by those brave men and women of all ages and backgrounds who hunger for freedom and thirst for justice.

YOU can be a part of this revolution.

Please donate to Al-Ahwaz TV !

All donations go towards the training of Ahwazi journalists, equipment purchases, satellite transmission to Al-Ahwaz and premises. No-one takes a salary or any personal payment and running costs are kept to a minimum.

You can give on-line via http://www.ahwazmedia.tv/donor.html

Please give generously for the sake of life, liberty and peace in Al-Ahwaz!

Alternatively, email info(a)ahwaz. org. uk for alternative ways of donating to Al-Ahwaz TV .

Labels: activism

30 January, 2006

Al-Ahwaz TV goes on-line

Al-Ahwaz TV, an independent, grass-roots broadcaster transmitting to the Ahwazi Arab homeland, is now available on-line at www.ahwazmedia.tv .
Al-Ahwaz TV has been transmitting to the Ahwazi homeland in Iran since 2004, broadcast on the Assyrian television channel.

The station and its journalists are supported by a number of Ahwazi non-governmental organisations and their supporters, including the Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz and the British Ahwazi Friendship Society.

It promotes non-violent opposition to the Iranian regime and advocates democratic change, focussing on the Ahwazi Arabs, who are indigenous to south-west Iran. Al-Ahwaz TV seeks to hand the media back to the Ahwazis, who are oppressed, marginalised and discriminated against.

Al-Ahwaz TV is not supported by any government or government-funded institution. It is run, staffed and owned by Ahwazi Arabs and run by a democratic editorial collective.

Labels: activism

23 January, 2006

Balochis demonstrate in London against cultural genocide

Scores of Baloch people held a large demonstration against ongoing military operations in BalochistanâPakistan on Sunday opposite the official residence of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The demonstration was called by the Balochistan Action Committee in association with the Balochistan Rights Movement, World Sindhi Congress and the Sindhi Baloch Forum . Balochistan straddles the Iran-Pakistan border. Balochis from both Iran and Pakistan and their British supporters were present on the demonstration to show their solidarity with those Balochis suffering state violence in Pakistan.

Spokesmen conducted interviews with Geo TV, ANI TV and other media at the demonstration. They vigorously condemned the atrocities of Pakistani Army in Balochistan. They condemned the killing of 12 innocent Baloch in custody by Frontier Constabulary as well as killing of Baloch children and women and the use of phosphorus bombs as genocidal. Demonstrators also called for an immediate end to the Kala-Bagh Dam project.

The demonstrators called on Prime Minister Blair and other world leaders for their intervention to stop Pakistan's military from committing genocide in Balochistan and urged them to send a fact-finding mission to war-torn regions of Balochistan. They also demanded the immediate release of over 4,000 extra-judicially detained or missing Baloch, an end to all military operations in Balochistan and a recognition of Baloch rights. The demonstrators gave their unequivocal support to the people of Balochistan and the victims of military action in Balochistan and Sindh. A petition letter was handed in to 10 Downing Street by a number of demonstrators.

Iranian Balochi groups such as the Balochistan Peoples Party (BPP) have formed an alliance with the Democratic Solidarity Party of Ahwaz (DSPA) to push for minority rights and devolution of power through the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran (CNFI). CNFI also includes Kurds, Azeris and Turkmen, who are working together in a spirit of mutual solidarity. Iranian and Pakistani Balochis and Iran's Ahwazi Arab population share a common struggle for recognition of minority rights, an end to persecution and economic marginalisation and devolution of power. Both the BPP and the DSPA support non-violent means to empower minorities and are urging the international community to prevent attacks on innocent civilians in both Iran and Pakistan.

Click here for more information

Labels: activism , minorities

15 November, 2005

Ahwazi and UNPO Appeal to Javier Solana

Below is a letter sent by Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO) drawing EU attention to state violence against Ahwazi Arabs in Iran's Khuzestan province:

Your Excellency,

To the kind attention of: H.E. JAVIER SOLANA High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union The Hague, 09 November 2005 On behalf of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO), I present my compliments to Your Excellency, and would hereby like to bring the following matter to Your urgent attention.

The past few weeks have seen an intensification of state violence, including arbitrary arrests and executions, against the Ahwazi Arabs in Iran's province of Khuzestan. We have had reports of a lynching by security forces, extra-judicial killings in Karoon prison and deaths during the dispersal of political demonstrations.

On Friday 4 November, during the Muslim ceremony of Eid al-Fitr, 3,000 Ahwazis staged a peaceful march towards the centre of Ahwaz City, but at 12.30pm were surrounded at the fifth bridge by Iranian security forces who fired tear gas grenades at the crowd. Two Arab youths fell unconscious into the Karoon river and drowned as a result of the attack. More than 200 demonstrators were arrested. The security forces were ordered to attack by General Amir Hayat Moghadam, recently appointed the Governor of Khuzestan by President Ahmadinejad.

Earlier in the same week, 81 Ahwazi Arabs were arrested while conducting a cultural play called Mahibis, a popular event performed during iftaar, following fasting in the month of Ramadan. The arrested included Zahra Nasser-Torfi, a feminist leader and director of the Ahwaz Al-Amjad cultural center, Arab-Iranian poet Hamid Haydari and the entire Mojadam family - Mohammad Mojadam, Hamid Mojadam, Mehdi Mojadam, Rasoul Mojadam, Khaled Bani-Saleh and Hassan Naisi.

Furthermore, tensions have been running high over the arrest of seven sons and close relatives of Arab tribal leader Hajj Salem Bawi. Two of his sons have been sentenced to death for alleged insurrection. Their executions will be carried out if the Supreme Court approves the death sentence issued by the lower court. All seven have been tortured in prison. On 11 October, Esmail Ghasem Abyat and Lefteh Sarkhi, both human rights activists and students at the Chamran University in Ahwaz, were arrested. Meanwhile, Reza Salman Delphi, a 34-year-old businessman also known as B. Behjat, has been detained since 11 August and denied medical treatment for heart and kidney diseases. The refusal of medical treatment could result in his death.

In the past several weeks, dozens of political prisoners and as well as those recently arrested have been tortured into giving forced television confessionsand a political prisoner at Karoon prison, Said al-Khalafi, was executed in the prison yard. During the last month a spate of bombings - blamed on the British and Canadian governments, separatists, Ba'athists, Israelis, Wahabis, etc - have occurred in Ahwaz. It is widely believed that the bombings have been carried out by government security forces ahead of Mustafa Moin, a reformist candidate in the June presidential elections, threatened to quit as a candidate after complaining that a string of bomb attacks in Ahwaz were being staged to encourage the election of a military candidate.

The Iranian regime is embarking on a massive crack-down on the local Ahwazi population due to growing dissent in the province. This wave of arrests is taking place while many detainees from demonstrations held in April 2005 are still being held without charges and family members fear that they may be executed in a highly charged atmosphere.

Reporters and outside observers have no access to the province, maintaining the state of siege of Khuzestan whose population is 70 per cent is indigenous Arab. Al-Jazeera was banned in the province after it covered demonstrations by Arabs against the government's plan to reduce the proportion of Arabs in the province to a third of the total population.

On basis of the above, we kindly urge You to call upon Iran to stop killing of innocent indigenous Ahwaz Arab people of Khuzestan; and to dispatch an EU fact finding mission to the province as soon as possible.

I hope Your Excellency will give due consideration to the content and request contained in this communication.

Sincerely,

Marino Busdachin
General Secretary
Unrepresented Peoples and Nations Organization

Karim Abdian
Executive director
Ahwaz Human Rights Organization

Labels: activism , human rights

06 November, 2005

More Details Emerge of Iran's Eid Crack-Down in Ahwaz

The Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) has released further details on the Eid protests by Ahwazi Arabs.

AHRO reports that on Friday 3,000 Ahwazis staged a peaceful march towards the centre of Ahwaz City, but at 12.30pm were surrounded at the 5th bridge by Iranian security forces who fired tear gas grenades at the crowd. Two Arab youths fell into the Karoon river and drowned as a result of the attack. More than 200 demonstrators were arrested. The security forces were ordered to attack by General Amir Hayat Moghadam, recently appointed the Governor of Khuzestan by President Ahmadinejad.

Earlier in the week, 81 Ahwazi Arabs were arrested while conducting a cultural play called Mahibis , a popular event performed during iftaar , following fasting in the month of Ramadan . The arrested included Zahra Nasser-Torfi, a feminist leader and director of the Ahwaz Al-Amjad cultural center, Arab-Iranian poet Hamid Haydari and the entire Mojadam family - Mohammad Mojadam, Hamid Mojadam, Mehdi Mojadam, Rasoul Mojadam, Khaled Bani-Saleh and Hassan Naisi. These arrests were a contributing factor to the Eid protests.

On Saturday, the families of those arrested during the protests marched to the Governor's provincial headquarers wearing traditional Arabic clothing, dishdasha (ankle-length robe) and kafieh (scarf). The families demonstrated to demand the release of those arrested during Friday's demonstration and requested a meeting with the Governor. Using a loudhailer, Governor General Heyat Mojadam began calling them terrorists and Arab nomads, using foul language to insult the families' dignity, culture and identity. He warned the demonstrators that any Ahwazi Arab wearing traditional Arabic clothing would be arrested and ordered the security forces to disperse the crowd violently.

Tensions have been running high over the arrest of seven sons and close relatives of Arab tribal leader Hajj Salem Bawi. Two of his sons have been sentenced to death for alleged insurrection. Their executions will be carried out if the Supreme Court approves the death sentence issued by the lower court. All seven have been tortured in prison. On 11 October, Esmail Ghasem Abyat and Lefteh Sarkhi, both human rights activists and students at the Chamran University in Ahwaz, were arrested. Meanwhile, Reza Salman Delphi, a 34-year-old businessman also known as B. Behjat, has been detained since 11 August and denied medical treatment for heart and kidney diseases.

In the past several weeks, dozens of political prisoners and as well as those recently arrested have been tortured into giving forced television confessions. In the past week a political prisoner at Karoon prison, Said al-Khalafi, was executed in the prison yard. Also, last week the body of an Ahwazi Arab activist was found in Karoon Rover, which runs through Ahwaz City, and another was lynched in the Arab city of Hamidieh and hung from a street light.

In the past few weeks a spate of bombings - blamed on the British and Canadian governments, separatists, Ba'athists, Israelis, Wahabis, etc - have occurred in Ahwaz. It is widely believed that the bombings have been carried out by government security forces ahead of an intensification of the government's land confiscation and ethnic cleansing along the Shatt Al-Arab . Mustafa Moin, a reformist candidate in the June presidential elections, threatened to quit as a candidate after complaining that a string of bomb attacks in Ahwaz were being staged to encourage the election of a military candidate. However, the regime has blamed the British government for training "terrorists".

Khuzestan is off-limits to reporters and outside observers while maintaining state of siege of the province whose population is 70 per cent is indigenous Arab. Al-Jazeera was banned in the province after it covered demonstrations by Arabs against the government's plan to reduce the proportion of Arabs in the province to a third of the total population.

Labels: activism , human rights

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