AHRO Condemns the Arbitrary Arrests in Ahwaz following the Suspected Armed Attack
To the United Nations, the international al community and human rights organizations.
Following the armed attack on the military parade held on Saturday 22 September 2018, The city of Ahwaz and various parts of Ahwaz region (Khuzestan) have been witnessing extensive and systematic arrests of large number of Arab youth by the IRGC and its militias.
While the authorities admitted that only 22 people were arrested for alleged links to the perpetrators, local activists and sources confirmed that the number of detainees has exceeded 300 in the past few days including activists, intellectuals and ordinary citizens.
While the details of the attack and those behind it remain unclear, there is a growing skepticism about the involvement of the government , especially the IRGC intelligence apparatus, in complicity in this attack for political reasons related to internal and external crises.
The authorities have been carrying out a massive campaign of intimidation in the province of Ahwaz, which has been witnessed since the beginning of this year following the peaceful protests in Ahwaz and all over Iran . Protests were focused on pressing demands such as expensive and scarce drinking water, unemployment, dust storms, the spread of pollution and the transfer of water out of region.
The Iranian government as in the past exploited similar attacks in order to militarize the region and start a new campaign of suppression , which includes executions, and arrest of political and peaceful cultural activists to eliminate the occasional demonstrations against the government's discriminatory policies and racism against the Arab people.
The Ahwaz Human Rights Organization while reaffirming its condemnation of all forms of violence and terrorism, reiterates its firm position of principle of peaceful and democratic activity, strongly condemns the systematic state terrorism practiced by the Iranian government against the Ahwazi people and all peoples in Iran.
Iran government attempts to link every internal movement with foreign conspiracies in order to justify repression and escape from the entitlements of the masses demanding their rights, which includes stopping government spendings on regional wars and expansionist ambitions and the protection of their rights to freedom and decent living.
On the background of such situation the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO) , while condemning the repressive practices and arrests carried out by the Iranian authorities, declares that it stands by the Arab Ahwazi detainees and warns against the consequences of torturing them to earn forced confessions, as the Iranian security services have always practiced.
It also calls on the international community, organizations and bodies, especially those under the umbrella of the United Nations, to condemn these arrests and to exert all their humanitarian efforts to stop these mass arrests and violations of human rights and to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from succeeding in its plans to eliminate the voices calling for social justice.
Ahwaz Human Rights Organization
26/9/2018
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