The following are the names of detainees in past days:
1. Naji Sawari, 38, married with three children, resident of the "Barq" neighbourhood in the city of Ahwaz, and a teacher at the Talqani school in the city of Ahwaz.
2. Maher Dasoumi, 30, married with one child, resident of the city of Ahwaz, cultural researcher and teacher in the schools of Shiban
3. Ali Abidawi, 36, married with three children, from Alawi neighbourhood in Ahwaz, teacher of Al-Quds school in Hamidiya.
4. Abdullah Farisat, 27, from the Baharestan neighbourhood of Ahwaz, a cultural activist and a member of the Popular Committees to Assist Flood Victims.
Last week, Iran's security forces and IRGC arrested other activists and relief workers. Their names are: 1 - Rasul Farthousi 2 - Ibrahim Badawi 3 - Amin Silawi 4 - Ali Mousawi 5 - Hassan Beit Ishaq 6 - Imad Haidari 7 - Ali Nasri 8 - Hatem Dahimi 9 - Ahmad Badawi 10 - Hussein Hamoudi 11 - Mahdi Shreifi 12-Qasim Tamimi 13-Aref Serakhi 14-Fouad Badawi 15-Kazem Marwani 16-Mohsen Zuwaydat 17-Habib Krushat 18-Masoud Harizawi 19-Naji Al-Sawari 20-Haydar Silawi 21-Ali Kazem 22-Mahdi Farhani 23 Adnan Karim 24-Hamza Sayahi 25-Mahdi Swary 26-Ahmed Kabbi 27-Yaqoub Kabbi 28-Massoud Mansouri 29-Ibrahim Dahimi 30-Ibrahim Badawi 31- Sajjad Khadairi 32- Adnan Mousawi 33- On both sides 34- Sayed Hashim Mousawi.
The arrest campaign is due to the anger of the Revolutionary Guard and security officials at the activities carried out by these young volunteers in the popular committees. These volunteers have come up with alternative ways to help the people affected by the floods to counter the deliberate negligence by the government. Whilst these volunteers set up spontaneous groups to help flood victims, Iranian authorities have accused them of forming unauthorized organizations.
The Revolutionary Guard has replaced these Ahwazi volunteer committees with foreign militias and armed groups brought from abroad, such as the Iraqi Popular Rally, Fatmiyoun, and the Lebanese Hezbollah. These armed groups are on the international terrorism list. Despite that, they have been deployed in the flood-stricken areas of Ahwaz.
The Iranian authorities have also been angered by the popular committees due to the publication of many documents, photographs and video clips indicating that the Revolutionary Guard and the Ministry of Oil were not willing to direct the floods to the marshes to avoid any potential damages to oil facilities.
So far, floods have destroyed 273 villages and affected 22 towns and the number of victims and displaced people in the province has surpassed half a million.
Instead of supporting relief efforts, security forces attacked popular committees and arrested dozens of activists, especially after protests against government policies that did not take any measures to resolve the crisis or help flood victims.
The Qods Corps Forces, following the visit of its leader Qassem Soleimani to Ahwaz, has brought the Popular Rally Militia from Iraq and Hezbollah from Lebanon under the cover of helping flood victims when in reality they have been brought to suppress the protests of the Ahwazi people.
Ahwaz Human Rights Organization
1 May 2019
