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Iran-HRM – Iranian regime has a long history of applying discriminatory policies against the ethnic and religious minorities.
In a last episode, the state TV showed a cartoon in which it used figurines to depict various ethnicity but the segment completely ignored the Arab origins of Ahwaz.
Major discontent flared up in the city of Ahwaz, the Khuzestan provincial capital on March 30, protesting what locals called the Iranian authority’s marginalization of Iranians of Arab origin and its efforts to erase their Arab identity. Soon other cities throughout the region including Abadan, Mahshahr, Hamidiyeh and Sheyban joined the protests.
The state security forces violently responded in the early hours with the arrest of at least 26 protesters including three women.
The videos circulated on social media showed state forces firing extensive bird shots and another showed Iranian forces arresting several Ahwazi Arabs as random shots being fired.
The number of detainees have so far reached to a least 400 people, and possibly more than 500. At least 15 children between 11 to 15 years of age are amongst those arrested. A number of parents and family members were also arrested when they referred to the IRGC intelligence office to pursue the situation of their loved ones.
Reports indicate hundreds of Ahwazi Arab activists suspected of playing roles in mobilizing local protests who had a previous record of rights activism or being detained for their peaceful activism, were arrested usually following home raids during the late evening or early morning hours.
Iranian authorities have not given a reason for the arrests or revealed the status and whereabouts of the detainees, placing them at increased risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
Some human rights organisations expressed concern that people may have been tortured as suspicious deaths reports coincided with the sweeping arrests across the Arab-populated province.
At least three corpses with clear scares of torture were found during April in nearby towns or villages of the Khuzestan Province. The state media have not yet reported any news of the death.
