To describe the situation of Hoor Al- Azim ( the Great Marsh) as alarming is an understatement. This massive international marshland which is shared with Iraq is situated in ‘’ Misan Valley’’ (Dasht Azadegan) county in Ahwaz region (Khuzestan).
Over the past few days, Ahwazi instagrammers, local environmental journalists and activists have been publishing videos from Hoor Al-Azim. The videos show the heart wrenching images of water buffalos carcasses and hundreds of dead fish floating on water.
The images are reportedly from the number 2 reservoir of the marsh. What is more worrying is that the officials are either ignoring or at best dismissing the severity of the situation by describing it as ‘’normal’, as stated by Mohammad Javad Ashrafi, Director General of Environmental Protection of Khuzestan’.
As a result, a group of local environmental activists staged a protest in front of ‘’Ahwaz Water and Power organisation’’ building criticising the negligence of the Department of Environment, and other relevant local authorities.
Not respecting the water rights of Hoor Al-Azim has for long been a source of dispute between the government and local marsh Arabs whose livelihood is dependent on fishing and water buffalo livestock. In addition to water rights problem, wast area of the wetland have been dried up in order to extract oil.
In addition to poverty and the misplacement of hundreds of marsh Arab families, the other major consequence of drying of the marsh has been the dust storms that sweeps across the region.
Marshlands are called earth kidneys, as they absorb pollutants. Considering the heavy concentration of petrochemical industries in Ahwaz, the drying of Hoor Al-Azim, especially in the last decade, has left the region with a toxic environment. It is no surprise that Ahwaz city, the capital of the region was listed as one of the world’s most polluted cities in the world according to World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011.
This border wetland was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2016 by UNESCO. And as an international wetland, the environmental catastrophe we are witnessing in Hoor Al-Azim have regional consequences.
Ahwaz Human Right Organization (AHRO) calls on the Iranian authorities to respect the water rights of Hoor Al-Azim and stop using water as a weapon against the people in Ahwaz.
With the nomination of Anthony Blinken and John Kerry by president-elect Joe Biden’s as a part of his national security team one may think there should jubilations and a sense of triumph and relief among the leaders of the Islamic Republic in Tehran. After all, Mr. Blinken was the head of the first secret team to be dispatched to Muscat and ultimately played a pivotal role in the Iran nuclear deal or, JCPSA, that John Kerry negotiated and effected.
This is the outcome that Tehran expected, especially after spending a large amount of money during this election to support the intense Iranian lobbying efforts in the US on behalf of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In addition to established Iranian lobby groups such as National Iranian American Council (NIAC), and NIAC-Action, several newly minted Iranian lobby groups have emerged this year. Cheer leading these new crowds were the familiar groups in Washington such as former president Barak Obama, Ben Rodes, Terita Parsi, Jason Rezaian, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and others.
Post-election results show that Iran’s lobbying efforts was focused on persuading Democratic party to get the attention and voting support of a variety of predominantly left-of-center philanthropic foundations, the Black Lives Matter, Muslim and Arab grassroot civil rights groups promising to stop the so-called Trump war against Iran. Also, to get the flawed Iran nuclear agreement, or JCPA and trade relations restored and have the sanctions against Iran removed.
In a not uncertain term, both Elliot Abram, US Special Representative for Iran as well as Secretary Pompeo stated that regardless of the result of the election, pressure’ policy against Iran will continue and US sanctions against Iran with remain as a baseline US foreign policy. I believe Mr. Abrams assertions are correct. Mr. Abram is an experienced politician and I found him the most familiar with Iran with very good ideas to tackle Iran issues. I met with Mr. Abrams in the White house during the second term of George W. Bush when Mr. Abrams directed the Gulf policy in the National Security Council. In fact, this is what Joe Biden alluded to in his Sept 13 opinion article for CNN : “There's a smarter way to be tough on Iran” There seem to be some sort of a non-partisan agreement that Biden will get the nuclear agreement, or JCPA reinstated, secure the release of all Iranian-American held prisoners in Tehran. There will be an added component the elimination of Iran’s missile development profile and withdrawal of forces and advisors from Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Also, desirably, coerce Iran to take responsivity for two Americans who were killed in a rocket attack on a military base in Taji, Iraq on March of this year. US military officials told CNN that based on weapons and tactics used its the work of Iran Revolutionary Guard Corp. And finally force Iran to admit the missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on September. 14, 2019. All this can be found in Biden’s Sept 13 opinion article for CNN “There's a smarter way to be tough on Iran” One can say that this in fact is nothing but the condensed version of Pompeo 12-point program.
Unlike Obama, Biden can’t not be overly soft on Iran: anti-Iran policy is all over the place among Americans: The latest Despite Gallup poll of showing an astonishing 88 percent Americans have an unfavorable view of the country. Moreover, a 2019 poll also reflected 93 percent of Americans designated the Iranian regime’s development of nuclear weapons as a “critical” or “important” threat, and that Iran is a major sponsor of terror. And just this week UN Human rights commission and the State Department designated last year massacre-of-Ahwazi Arab city of Mashhour as where thousands were shot to death is a gross-violations-of-human-right that was overseen by the leadership and executed by RGC.
On the other hand, the euphoria in Tehran, if there is one, in not going to last long. The immediate concern of the Mullahs is the explosive situations in the country where Iran US lobby is useless. By any and all standards, the situations inside are untenable. There is the dire economic condition, rapid currency fluctuations, severe budget deficit, ever increasing infighting inside the regime, revelation of theft of billions of dollars by the religious and nonreligious elites, rapid expansion and inability of the regime in developing a plan to control CODID-19 resulting in wider death, and finally abject
According to all Iranian analysts, the fall of the regime if not immanent its nearing soon. When it does fall unless a road map for an orderly and smooth transition to a secular demodectic, plural and a federal system of governance under which devolution of power is shifted from the aristocratic Persian Shia elite to the peoples and all national constituencies, a chaos and indeed balkanization and civil war may follow. Balkanization of Iran would be the worst nightmare for the region and the world. It is expected that at least five million refugees would flee the country in the initial stage. Like most countries in the region, Iran is a multiethnic or multinational country. Indeed, Iran is the most diverse country in the region. After the fall of Qajar dynasty, British imperialist, with aid of Persian Shia aristocracy engaged in a “nation-building” attempt in the 20the century to create a monolithic “Iranian nation” by suppressing ethnic diversity and imposing a Persian ethnic identity on non-Persian nationalities such as Iranian Ahwazi-Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Baloch, Turkmen, Lors and others. Bu it was a failure. The official notion of nationhood in the country has been constantly challenged by non-Persian nationalities. These politically awakened oppressed nationalities- comprising at least half to two-third of the population - who were marginalized and kept out of power Tehran for so long by the Persian Pahlavi monarchy the Persian Shia mullahs, will be the first ones to challenge the status que after the fall of the regime. In absence of any law and order or neutral middle parties, there will be civil war between the adjutant nationalities who are made to feud on land, water, religion and sects and other historical animosities. Failure of the international community and the middle eastern major player to help the Iranian opposition in material and logistical support and assistance to change the regime orderly into a peaceful plural governance, a de-centralized multinational-federalist state, another Syria is in the horizon. Non-dominant and non-Persian nationalities have been struggling for an equal right and equal citizenship for a century, or as they call it the right of self-determination within the borders of Iran. Allowing power-sharing between central (federal) governments and regions, without breaking up the state. A road map such as this has already been formulated and agreed upon by two dozen regional political parties and organizations. They will be found willing and well capable of negotiations. But their exclusions will be tenement to dissolution of Iran. It needs to be noted that despite some American and Israeli quarters supported by Persian ultranationalists that suggest the restoration of Monarchy or entrusting some Persian-only organization abroad would certainty face a rejection by at least two-third of Iranians. The choice is very clear: working with regional Kurdish, Arab, Baloch, Azeri-Turks, Turkmen, Lor and other minorities political parties which are encompassing the Persian Center, to safely secure the oil installations and infrastructures as well as other national resources, and made them to take responsibility to secure the integrity of the provinces and the safety of all citizens, no one group or power can ensure stability in the country. Advancing pluralism in Iran and a multi-ethnic or multi-national federalism, is well defined by the UN, can readily be implemented and with the appropriate support and advocacy from the UN and the international community is the only solution ion Iran – all else id guaranteed to fail.
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran said on Tuesday he had asked Iran to free all political prisoners temporarily from its overcrowded and disease-ridden jails to help stem the spread of coronavirus.
There have been more than 6,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iran, making it the fourth most affected country after China, South Korea and Italy, World Health Organization data shows. There had been 194 deaths in Iran as of March 9.
Iran’s judiciary chief said on Monday authorities had temporarily freed about 70,000 prisoners to help limit the spread of coronavirus as officials reported hundreds of new infections and dozens more deaths across the country.
But U.N. rapporteur Javaid Rehman said only those serving sentences of less than five years had been freed while political prisoners and others charged with heavier sentences linked to their participation in protest marches remained in jail.
“A number of dual and foreign nationals are at real risk if they have not...got it (coronavirus), they are really fearful of the conditions,” Rehman told a press briefing in Geneva, asked about the fate of rights activists such as Narges Mohammadi.
“This is also my worrying concern and therefore I have recommended to the state of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release all prisoners on temporary release...,” he said.
A spokesman later clarified that Rehman was referring only to political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
IRAN HAS DONE “TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE”
Before this week’s announced release, Iran said it had 189,500 prisoners, according to the report Rehman submitted to the Human Rights Council in January. They are believed to include hundreds arrested during or after anti-government protests in November.
“I am highly concerned that hundreds, if not thousands, of November protesters detained are currently experiencing hardship in overcrowded facilities,” he said, adding that prisoners should also be subject to comprehensive testing for coronavirus.
In a February report, Rehman described how overcrowded and unhygienic conditions were causing the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis C. Quoting inmates, he said prisoners even had to provide their own soap.
Rehman said Iran’s efforts to contain coronavirus had been inadequate.
“In my estimation the state has done too little and too late,” he said. Asked to elaborate, he cited the decision last month to go ahead with a parliamentary election involving mass rallies in the holy city of Qom despite the emergence of cases.
“Across the country we have heard, and we have information, that little action was taken initially and as yet there is still inadequate action,” he said.
After more than a month of floods in Ahwaz region ( Khuzestan province) southwestern Iran, Vacuation of 274 villages damaged 20 towns and displaced half a million. Iranian security and intelligence service of the terrorist organization IRGC have arrested aid workers and social activists and bring the foreign militias such as Iraqi Hash Elshaabi and Lebanese Hizbullah instead. IRCC-Quds Force brought those militias after General Qasem Soleimani's visit to Ahwaz on the pretext of helping the flood victims but the local activists told Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO) that they have orders to participate in the crackdown of the protests of the Ahwazi Arab minority against discrimination and suppression. The detentions are due to the fact that various documents and videos have been published showing that the IRGC and the Ministry of Oil and the Iranian government are not in a position to direct the floods to the Hur region due to possible damage to oil facilities. Basically, for more than a decade Hor Al-Azim marsh has been dried up by IRGC to extract oil through Chinese contractors and has blocked every water access to the marsh, and as a result, has gained millions of dollars from oil. Following the latest rainfall, local indigenous Arab farmers directed the water toward hor Al-Azim marshlands through manually building soil barriers. And as a consequence, water reached the dry parts of Hor- Al-Azim. IRGC yet again destroyed these soil barriers toward villages and the surrounding farmlands where Ahwazi Arab indigenous people live. Despite extracting oil from the middle of the water is possible, however, it is costly, and it is a cost that the IRGC is not willing to pay, instead of sacrificing the environment and livelihood of residence in this oil-rich region. In addition to Hor Al-Azim, other fallacies marshland Hor Doragh in Shadegan is situated in the south of the Ahwaz region is 400,000 hectares and has been in the Montreux list of endangered marshlands. In the approximately of Shadegan marshes, there are various sugars and other agricultural companies owned by IRGC. Not assigning sufficient water to this marshland similar to Al-Azim has left the local fishermen, and farmers whose only living hood is dependent on the sources of marshlands poor and forced them to emigrate to shanty towns around bigger cities like Ahwaz. The other consequence of dried up marshes is that that following each storm, the soil is easily removed from the now dry marshlands and has caused severe dust storms. IRGC is sacrificing local Ahwazi Arabs to protect its oil facilities, and for this reason, they have faced the protest of local people. In the first of April, an Ahwazi Arab farmer, "Aboud Jelizi” was shot dead by IRGC fire, after protesting with other farmers against the situation and not allowing their forces to destroy the dam villagers had built to protect their home and lands. Now the Arab farmers have lost all their farms because of the floods, their houses have been demolished, and everything has been lost. The government has promised to pay some minor compensation but the people do not trust it and say they have not been paid Seoul compensation in 2015. The fate of half a million displaced people living in deserts, mountains and camps remains unknown. The displaced are threatened with shortages of supplies, food, medicine and sanitary equipment. The Iranian government agencies have not taken any serious action to resolve the flood-displaced people's problems and the security forces are trying to shut down popular centres for pressure on the Arab people. Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO) appeals international relief committees such as the Red Cross and the World Health Organization and others to assist the displaced in the villages of the towns of Ahwaz (Khuzestan province). AHRO also while condemning the mass arrests against aid workers and volunteer activists called for their immediate and unconditional release, and calls on international human rights organizations to condemn these repressive measures by the authorities of The Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Union of steelworkers at Arcelor Mittal (La Gota) of Villa Constitution Argentina expanded their international call for support of Ahwaz steel and Haft-tappeh sugar workers.
La Gota contacted various workers' organizations and non-governmental organisation in the south America countries including Chile, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Between December 2018 and January 2019, the following organisations and unions from Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina supported the international call for the release of Ahwaz steelworkers. At the moment two Ahwazi steel workers, “Karim Sayahi”, the spokesperson of workers of Ahwaz Steel and “Tareq Helfi” are still in Prison.
As the international campaign for the support and release of detained workers in Ahwaz grew, various socialist political parties and unions from south America, especially Argentina and Chile took part in this initiation.
Below is the list of the parties and unions
From Argentina:
-Solidarity letter from the Comisión de Trabajadores Condenados ( Commission of detained workers)
For the detained oil workers of Las Heras in Argentina.
Hugo González and José Rosales who are sentenced to life in prison,
Rubén Bach and Omar Mansilla each sentenced to 5 years in prison. In addition, their spouses Raquel Valencia, Claudia Bazán, Claudia Pafundi.
In their letter they jounce their voice to the voice of working class in Iran and ended their letter with the following quotes “To trespass one of us, is to trespass all of us” and “The rebellion of the slaves is not a crime, but justice”
-Mapuche community in Argentina, (Pu lof en Resistencia Cushman, Comunidad del pueblo originario Mapuche del PuelMapu-Tierra del Este)
-Isabel Huala, mother of Facundo Jones Huala, a Mapuche political prisoner who was sentenced to 9 years in prison adds her voice of solidarity with the Iranian political prisoners and their mothers.
-Shipyard workers of Rio Santiago, Avanzada Obrera Lista Negra
Mr.Crespo, Secretary General of Sindicato Único de Trabajadores
del Neumático Argentino, SUTNA (neumático)
- Francisco Montiel, Secretary General of Federación Portuaria,CTA – Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina
- Mr.Edgardo Reynoso, Unión Ferroviaria (Línea Sarmiento)
-Mr.Alfredo Cáceres, secretary General of Formación, SUTEBA Tigre (teacher)
-Mrs.Mónica Schlotthauer, National Deputy of (Izquierda Socialista/FIT)
-Mrs.Laura Marrone, legislator at C.A.B.A. (Izquierda Socialista/FIT)
-Mr.Pablo Vasco, Centro de Abogados por los DDHH (CADHU)
-Mr. Héctor Heberling, Nuevo MAS (Nuevo Movimiento al Socialismo)
-Mrs.Vilma Ripoll, MST movimento social trabajadores))
-Mr.Carlos Stasiuk, trabajador despedido de Cresta Roja
From Chile:
-Confederación Democrática Profesionales Universitarios de la Salud
-Pamela Valenzuela – MSPT (Movimiento Salud Para Todos)
We thank all the workers, unions and individuals from Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile for their solidarity and support of the working class in Iran and especially Ahwaz, the beating heart of social right and worker’s movements.
The Ahwaz Human Rights Organization has received a copy of Amnesty International's report for 2017/18 around the world and Iran. The report adressed violations against Ahwazi Arabs.
The report stated that ethnic minorities, including Ahwazi Arabs, Azerbaijani Turks, Baluchis, Kurds and Turkmen, remained subject to entrenched discrimination, curtailing their access to education, employment, adequate housing and political office. The Persian language remained the sole medium of instruction during primary and secondary education, contributing to higher drop-out rates in minority-populated areas.
There was ongoing criticism of the absence of measures ensuring minority self- government.
Members of minorities who spoke out against violations of their rights faced arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill- treatment, grossly unfair trials, imprisonment and the death penalty. Intelligence and security bodies frequently accused minority rights activists of supporting “separatist currents” threatening Iran’s territorialintegrity.
In June, security forces were deployed in Ahvaz in advance of the Eid al-Fitr holiday to prevent gatherings planned in solidarity with families of Ahwazi Arabs imprisoned or executed for political reasons. More than a dozen people were arbitrarily detained and many more were summoned for interrogation.
The report mentioned the case of Mohamad Ali Amouri, a defender of the human rights of Ahwazi Arabs who was on the death row and is serving a life sentence now in the central prison of Ahwaz in Sheiban.
Read the full report:
The authorities heavily suppressed the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, as well as freedom of religion and belief, and imprisoned scores of individuals who voiced dissent. Trials were systematically unfair. Torture and other ill-treatment was widespread and committed with impunity. Floggings, amputations and other cruel punishments were carried out. The authorities endorsed pervasive discrimination and violence based on gender, political opinion, religious belief, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. Hundreds of people were executed, some in public, and thousands remained on death row. They included people who were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.
BACKGROUND
In March the UN Human Rights Council renewed the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran; the Iranian authorities continued to deny her and other UN experts entry to the country.
In May, President Rouhani was elected to a second term in office, following an electoral process that discriminated against hundreds of candidates by disqualifying them on the basis of gender, religious belief and political opinion. The appointment of individuals allegedly involved in grave human rights violations to ministerial posts attracted public criticism.
The EU and Iran worked towards renewing a bilateral human rights dialogue while several human rights defenders served prison sentences imposed for communicating withEU and UN officials. Several governmentsincluding those of Australia, Sweden and
Switzerland also started bilateral human rights dialogues with Iran.
At the end of December, thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest against poverty, corruption and political repression, in the first anti-establishment demonstrations on such a scale since 2009.
FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION, ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLY
The authorities continued to crack down heavily on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, jailing scores of peaceful critics on spurious national security charges. Among those targeted were peaceful political dissidents, journalists, online media workers, students, filmmakers, musicians and writers, as well as human rights defenders includingwomen’s rights activists, minority rights andenvironmental activists, trade unionists, anti- death penalty campaigners, lawyers, and those seeking truth, justice and reparation for the mass executions and enforced disappearances of the 1980s.
Many prisoners of conscience undertook hunger strikes to protest against their unjust imprisonment.
The authorities arrested hundreds of protesters following anti-establishment demonstrations that began across the country at the end of December. Reports emerged that security forces killed and injured unarmed protesters by using firearms and other excessive force. On 31 December the Minister of Information and Communications Technology blocked access to Instagram and the popular messaging application Telegram, used by activists to promote and support the protests.
Earlier in the year, judicial officials had exerted persistent pressure on the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to request that Telegram relocate its servers to Iran and close tens of thousands of Telegram channels, which according to thejudiciary “threatened national security” or “insulted religious values”. Telegram said itrejected both requests.
Other popular social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube remained blocked.
Journalists and online media workers faced a renewed wave of harsh interrogations and arbitrary arrests and detentions before the presidential election in May. Those using Telegram were particularly targeted for harsh prison sentences, some exceeding a decade.
Freedom of musical expression remained curtailed. Women were banned from singing in public and the authorities continued to forcibly cancel many concerts. In August, several hundred artists called on President Rouhani to end such restrictions.
The authorities continued their violent raids on private mixed-gender parties, arresting hundreds of young people and sentencing many to flogging.
Censorship of all forms of media and jamming of foreign satellite television channels continued. The judicial authorities intensified their harassment of journalists working with the Persian BBC service, freezing the assets of 152 former or current BBC journalists and banning them from conducting financial transactions.
The Association of Journalists remained suspended.
Scores of students continued to be barred from higher education in reprisal for their peaceful activism, despite PresidentRouhani’s election promise to lift the ban.
Bans on independent trade unions persisted and several trade unionists were unjustly imprisoned. Security forces continued to violently suppress peaceful protests by workers, including onInternational Workers’ Day.
Dozens of environmental activists were summoned for interrogation, detained and prosecuted for participating in peaceful protests against air pollution, disappearing lakes, river diversion projects and dumping practices.
Opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and MirHossein Mousavi and the latter’s wife, ZahraRahnavard, remained under house arrest without charge or trial since 2011.
TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT
Torture and other ill-treatment remained common, especially during interrogations. Detainees held by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards were routinely subjected to prolonged solitary confinement amounting to torture.
Failure to investigate allegations of tortureand exclude “confessions” obtained undertorture as evidence against suspects remained systematic.
The authorities continued to deprive prisoners detained for political reasons of adequate medical care. In many cases, this was done as a deliberate punishment or toextract “confessions”, and amounted totorture.
Prisoners endured cruel and inhuman conditions of detention, including overcrowding, limited hot water, inadequate food, insufficient beds, poor ventilation and insect infestations.
More than a dozen political prisoners atKaraj’s Raja’i Shahr prison waged aprolonged hunger strike between July and September in protest at their dire detention conditions. Some faced denial of medical care, solitary confinement and fresh criminal charges in reprisal.
CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING PUNISHMENT
Judicial authorities continued to impose and carry out, at times in public, cruel and inhuman punishments amounting to torture.
Scores of individuals, including children, faced up to 100 lashes for theft and assault as well as for acts that, under internationallaw, must not be criminalized − includingextra-marital relationships, attending mixed gender parties, eating in public during Ramadan or attending peaceful protests.
In January, journalist Hossein Movahedi was lashed 40 times in Najaf Abad, Esfahan province, after a court found him guilty of inaccurately reporting the number of motorcycles confiscated by police in the city. In August, a criminal court in Markazi province sentenced trade unionist ShapourEhsanirad to 30 lashes and six months’imprisonment for participating in a protest against unjust work conditions.
In February, the Supreme Court upheld a blinding sentence issued by a criminal court in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province against a woman in retribution for blinding another woman.
Dozens of amputation sentences were imposed and subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court. In April, judicial authorities in Shiraz, Fars province, amputated the hand of Hamid Moinee and executed him 10 days later. He had been convicted of murder and robbery. At least four other amputation sentences were carried out for robbery.
The authorities also carried out degrading punishments. In April, three men accused of kidnapping and other crimes were paraded around Dehloran, Ilam province, with their hands tied and watering cans used for lavatory washing hung around their necks. Eight men were similarly humiliated in Pakdasht, Tehran province, in July.
In May, a woman arrested for having an intimate extramarital relationship was sentenced by a criminal court in the capital, Tehran, to two years of washing corpses and 74 lashes. The man was sentenced to 99 lashes.
UNFAIR TRIALS
Trials, including those resulting in death sentences, were systematically unfair. There were no independent mechanisms for ensuring accountability within the judiciary. Serious concerns remained that judges, particularly those presiding over Revolutionary Courts, were appointed on the basis of their political opinions and affiliation with intelligence bodies, and lacked legal qualifications.
Fair trial provisions of the 2015 Code of Criminal Procedure, including those guaranteeing access to a lawyer from the time of arrest and during investigations, were routinely flouted. The authorities continued to invoke Article 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to prevent those detained for political reasons from accessing lawyers of their own choosing. Lawyers were told they were not on the list approved by the Head of
the Judiciary, even though no official list had been made public.
Trials, particularly those before Revolutionary Courts, remained closed and extremely brief, sometimes lasting just a few minutes.
Foreign nationals and Iranians with dual nationality continued to face arbitrary arrest and detention, grossly unfair trials and lengthy imprisonment. The authorities claimed that they were countering foreign-orchestrated “infiltration projects”. In reality,such individuals were often charged withvague national security offences inconnection with the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF
Freedom of religion and belief was systematically violated, in law and practice. The authorities continued to impose codes of public conduct rooted in a strictinterpretation of Shi’a Islam on individuals of all faiths. Non-Shi’a Muslims were notallowed to stand as presidential candidates or hold key political offices.
Widespread and systematic attackscontinued to be carried out against the Baha’iminority. These included arbitrary arrests, lengthy imprisonment, torture and other ill-treatment, forcible closure of Baha’i-owned businesses, confiscation of Baha’i properties,bans on employment in the public sector and denial of access to universities. The authorities regularly incited hatred andviolence, vilifying Baha’is as “heretical” and “filthy”. There were renewed concerns thathate crimes could be committed with impunity after two men who had admitted tokilling Farang Amiri because of his Baha’ifaith were released on bail in June.
Other religious minorities not recognized under the Constitution, such as Yaresan (Ahl- e Haq), also faced systematic discrimination, including in education and employment, and were persecuted for practising their faith.
The right to change or renounce religious beliefs continued to be violated. Christian converts received harsh prison sentences, which ranged from 10 to 15 years in several cases. Raids on house churches continued. Gonabadi dervishes faced imprisonment
and attacks on their places of worship. A number were arbitrarily dismissed from employment or denied enrolment in universities.
Those who professed atheism remained at risk of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other ill-treatment and the death penaltyfor “apostasy”.
Sunni Muslims continued to report discrimination, including restrictions on holding separate prayers for Eid al-
Fitr celebrations and exclusion from high-ranking positions.
In a departure from Iranian law, the Court of Administrative Justice suspended the membership of Sepanta Niknam, aZoroastrian man, from Yazd’s City Council inOctober, based on an opinion from the headof Iran’s Guardian Council who said it was against Shari’a law to allow the governance ofnon-Muslims over Muslims.
At least two people were sentenced to death for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of religion and belief (see below).
DISCRIMINATION – ETHNIC MINORITIES
Ethnic minorities, including Ahwazi Arabs, Azerbaijani Turks, Baluchis, Kurds and Turkmen, remained subject to entrenched discrimination, curtailing their access to education, employment, adequate housing and political office.
Continued economic neglect of minority- populated regions further entrenched poverty and marginalization. In Sistan-Baluchistan province, residents of many villages reported a lack of access to water, electricity, schools and health facilities. The impoverished province retained high rates of illiteracy among girls and of infant mortality.
The Persian language remained the sole medium of instruction during primary and secondary education, contributing to higher drop-out rates in minority-populated areas.
There was ongoing criticism of the absence of measures ensuring minority self- government.
Members of minorities who spoke out against violations of their rights faced arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill- treatment, grossly unfair trials, imprisonment and the death penalty. Intelligence and security bodies frequently accused minority rights activists of supporting “separatist currents” threatening Iran’s territorialintegrity.
Iran’s border guards continued to unlawfully shoot and kill, with full impunity, scores of unarmed Kurdish men known as Kulbars who work as cross-border porters between Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan. In September, security forces violently suppressed protests in Baneh and Sanandaj over the fatal shootings of two Kulbars, and detained more than a dozen people.
There was a heavy police presence across Kurdistan province in September when members of Iran’s Kurdish minority heldrallies in support of the independence referendum in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. More than a dozen people were reportedly arrested.
In June, security forces were deployed in Ahvaz in advance of the Eid al-Fitr holiday to prevent gatherings planned in solidarity with families of Ahwazi Arabs imprisoned or executed for political reasons. More than a dozen people were arbitrarily detained and many more were summoned for interrogation. Ahwazi Arab human rights defender Mohammad Ali Amouri remained on death row.
DISCRIMINATION – WOMEN AND GIRLS
Women remained subject to entrenched discrimination in law and practice, including in access to divorce, employment, equal inheritance and political office, and in family and criminal law.
Acts of violence against women and girls, including domestic violence and early and forced marriage, were widespread and committed with impunity. The authorities failed to criminalize gender-based violence; a draft bill remained pending since 2012. Thelegal age of marriage for girls remained at 13,and fathers and grandfathers could obtain permission from courts for their daughters to be married at an even younger age.
All 137 women who registered as presidential candidates were disqualified by the Guardian Council. President Rouhani included no woman ministers in his cabinet, despite civil society demands.
Compulsory veiling (hijab) allowed police and paramilitary forces to harass and detain women for showing strands of hair under their headscarves or for wearing heavy make- up or tight clothing. State-sanctioned smear campaigns were conducted against women who campaigned against the compulsory hijab.
Iran’s Civil Code continued to deny Iranianwomen married to non-Iranian men the right to pass their nationality on to their children, a right enjoyed by Iranian men married to foreign spouses.
Authorities defied ongoing public pressure to open football stadiums to women spectators.
Women experienced reduced access to affordable modern contraception as the authorities failed to restore the budget for state family planning programmes cut in 2012. Parliament passed a law in October imposing severe restrictions on imparting information about contraception.
The authorities continued to monitor andrestrict foreign travel of women’s rightsactivists. Alieh Motalebzadeh was sentencedto three years’ imprisonment in August forattending a workshop in Georgia on“Women’s empowerment and elections”.
DISCRIMINATION – PERSONS WITHDISABILITIES AND PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV
The UN Committee on the Rights of Personswith Disabilities reviewed Iran’s human rightsrecord in March. The Committee condemned state discrimination and violence againstpeople with physical and intellectualdisabilities; poor implementation of accessibility standards; and denial of reasonable accommodation at the workplace. The Committee also expressed alarm at reports of forced institutionalization of people with disabilities and non-consensual medicaltreatments against people perceived to havea disability, including on the grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation. In December, parliament passed a proposed law on the Protection of the Rights of People with Disabilities which, if implemented fully, would enhance accessibility and access to education, housing, health care and employment.
In August the Ministry of Education adopted discriminatory criteria for disqualifying candidates for teaching positions. This included illnesses, crossed eyes, facial moles, short height and heavy weight. Following public outrage, the Ministry promised revisions but said that people living with HIV would still be barred as they lacked“moral qualifications”.
DEATH PENALTY
The authorities continued to execute hundreds of people after unfair trials. Some executions were conducted in public.
The authorities continued to describe peaceful campaigning against the deathpenalty as “un-Islamic”, and harassed andimprisoned anti-death penalty activists.
The majority of executions were for non- lethal drug-related offences. A new law adopted in October increased the quantities of drugs required for imposing the death penalty but retained mandatory death sentences for a wide range of drug-related offences. While the new law provided for retroactive applicability, it remained unclear how the authorities intended to implement it to commute the death sentences of those already on death row.
It was possible to confirm the execution of four individuals who were under 18 at the time of the crime and the cases of 92 other juvenile offenders who remained on death row. The real numbers were likely to be much higher. Several executions were scheduled and postponed at the last minute because of public campaigning. Retrials of juvenile offenders pursuant to Article 91 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code continued to result in renewed death sentences following arbitrary assessments of their “maturity” at the time ofthe crime.
The death penalty was maintained forvaguely worded offences such as “insulting the Prophet”, “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on earth”.
In August, spiritual teacher and prisoner of conscience Mohammad Ali Taheri was sentenced to death for the second time for“spreading corruption on earth” throughestablishing the spiritual group Erfan-e Halgheh; in October the Supreme Court quashed the death sentence. He remained in solitary confinement.
Prisoner of conscience Marjan Davari wassentenced to death in March for “spreading corruption on earth” in connection with hermembership of the religious group Eckankar and for translating their materials. The Supreme Court subsequently quashed the death sentence and sent the case back to theRevolutionary Court in Tehran for retrial.
The Islamic Penal Code continued to provide for stoning as a method of execution. Some consensual same-sex sexual conduct remained punishable by death.
by: Lima Ahwazi - London The Ahwazi Arab minority in Iran continue to face marginalisation which aims at erasing their national identity and obstructing their personal development. This is done through a mono linguistic education system that prevents Arabs from receiving education in their own language.The Ahwazi Arab minority in Iran continue to face marginalisation which aims at erasing their national identity and obstructing their personal development. This is done through a mono linguistic education system that prevents Arabs from receiving education in their own language. UNESCO Director, Audrey Azoulay reiterates UNESCO’s position which encourages and recommends schooling in the mother tongue in multilingual countries as “children learn best in their mother language”. Being a multilingual country, Iran provides no recourses for this, making it difficult for Ahwazi Arabs to achieve educational attainment. When the recourses are not available during the years of early development, children miss out on the opportunity to master their mother tongue of Arabic and they lack the basic literacy skills of reading and writing. Eventually, the barriers for employment and social mobility increases, and as a consequence Ahwazi Arab citizens are treated as second-class citizens. Arabic upholds great significance on the global scene and is one of the official languages of the United Nations. Researches by the British Council has also found that the Arabic language is one of the ten most important languages for the UK's future. Such findings give Iran no valid reason for demoting the Arabic language. The very little effort to protect the Arabic language contributes to Iran’s agenda of Persianising the region, making it harder for individuals to reconnect with their heritage and develop an emotional attachment to their traditions and values. Instead, many institutions and procedures promote the single language of Farsi for the purpose of national unity. In turn, this interferes with social integrity as it compels those of Persian origin to feel superior to their Arab counterparts as their language, heritage, and history are at the forefront of the national curriculum and public domain. Hassan Rouhani has claimed that he is pressing on ethnic minority rights, most notably through appointment of Ali Younesi as an advisor for ethnic groups and minority affairs on December 2017. Younesi’s proclaimed commitment on ethnic minorities, however, seems to be more talk rather than action as throughout Rouhani’s presidency. Rouhani’s promises of protection of minority rights however, are yet to be delivered to the Arab community in Iran. Iranian government continues to obstruct the path for linguistic diversity, violating its human rights obligation of protecting minority languages and instead creates a backdrop for marginalisation and oppression of the Ahwazi Arabs. “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status..” Article 2, Universal Declaration of Human Rights(link is external), 1948.
One of the key factors forgotten by analysts when looking at Iran’s popular breakdown is the rampant discontent regarding environmental governance. The infamous Lake Orumiyyah’s case best illustrates water mismanagement in Iran. This issue touches upon many others, but essentially concerns ethnic minorities that are politically and economically neglected at first. Minority-inhabited territories are generally rich in resources and agricultural potential, but exploitative policies coupled with water mismanagement have serious impacts countrywide and are severely affecting their living conditions. The environmental crisis hits more severely minority regions. In Balochistan for example, the Lake Hamoon has been totally dried out. In Al-Ahwaz, the Hor Al-Azim and the Flaheih marshlands are dramatically shrinking. Moreover, changing local plants like palm trees into sugarcane exploitation plans into huge industrial agro-projects led to water shortage and lands salinization. This mismanagement and negligence are leading to an environmental crisis but also has other detrimental impacts. This contributes to food insecurity, mass migration, health hazards, soil deterioration and desertification.
In the mountains of western Iran, the province of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari is known for mile-high lagoons, flowing rivers and wetlands that attract thousands of species of migratory birds.
But years of diminishing rainfall have shrivelled water sources. Conditions worsened, residents say, after Iranian authorities began funnelling water 60 miles away to the lowland city of Esfahan, sparking protests as far back as 2014.
On Dec. 30 of last year, about 200 people gathered in front of the provincial governor’s office to protest the water transfer project. Their slogans soon morphed into chants of “Death to the dictator,” the main rallying cry of anti-governmental protesters who poured into streets nationwide in the biggest spasm of public anger Iran has seen in years.
The uprising — in which at least 21 people died and thousands were arrested before authorities re-imposed order — had many sparks: rising prices, persistent unemployment, bank collapses, a wide wealth gap, corruption in the theocracy.
But an overlooked factor, analysts say, is the impact of climate change and the widespread perception that Iran’s leaders are mishandling a growing problem of water scarcity.
“People believe that this is yet another major crisis the country is facing, and the people at the top are too incompetent and too corrupt to care,” said Meir Javedanfar, a professor of Iranian politics at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, an Israeli university.
“It does not seem to be a priority of the regime to address the drought issue,” he said. “As long as it’s not a priority, nothing will happen until something breaks.”
Many environmental activists believe Iran is quickly approaching its breaking point as diminishing rainfall and warmer temperatures have caused lakes to disappear, kicked up blinding dust storms and emptied out once fertile regions as farmers seek economic refuge in cities.
Drought is a concern across the Middle East, but Iran’s 80 million people are especially at risk. This month, the director of Iran’s Drought and Crisis Management Center, Shahrokh Fateh, said that 96% of the country’s land area was experiencing prolonged drought conditions, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
In some of the hardest hit areas, including border provinces where ethnic and religious minorities complain of official neglect, concerns over natural resources were a key driver of the demonstrations that began in late December.
“People in my area do not want to politicize their environmental concerns, but water shortages and pollution of the air and rivers are seen as political crises,” said Yusef Farhadi Babadi, an environmental activist in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari. “People want to reclaim their rights to clean air and water and efficient water use.”
In the province, which covers an area slightly larger than the state of Connecticut, there were once 3,800 natural springs, but about 1,100 have dried up, Babadi said, citing official statistics. The Iran Meteorological Organization forecast recently that for the Iranian year ending March 20, rainfall in the province would be more than 80% below the long-term average.
Many in the predominantly agricultural region complain about a controversial series of canals the government has built to bring hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water from the Karun River, which runs through Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, to growing populations in central provinces.
Some of the water has gone to state-run steel mills in Esfahan, which Babadi described as “bankrupt industries.” Meanwhile, with the exception of Shahr-e Kord, the provincial capital of about 150,000 people, towns in the area rely on tanker water that is riddled with chemicals, he said.
Farmers and cattle breeders have occasionally clashed with security forces, including in 2016, when multiple days of protests in the town of Boldaji left one demonstrator dead and nearly 200 injured. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s powerful paramilitary organization, reportedly sent troops from 16 units to put down the uprising.
In neighboring Khuzestan, an oil-rich province with a large population of ethnic Arabs on the border with Iraq, desertification and industrial waste have destroyed date orchards and wetlands. The World Health Organization lists the provincial capital of Ahvaz as one of the world’s most polluted cities, and for much of the year a yellow smog blankets the city, sending residents fleeing to the hospital for help with breathing difficulties.
Ahvaz saw large protests for more than a week beginning Dec. 30, but they were the latest in a years-long string of demonstrations over environmental conditions, said Abafazl Abidi, a correspondent for the reform-minded Shargh newspaper in Tehran.
“Many are suffering from chronic environmental problems or pollution-related diseases like asthma and skin ailments,” Abidi said. “People suffer from acid rain, visibility is only a few meters, there are outages of drinking water and electricity. The recent protests seem to me no surprise at all.”
The conditions have worsened because of the rampant construction of dams, more than a dozen of which have been built in the province in the last 40 years, many reportedly by businesses linked to the Revolutionary Guard.
Experts say the projects have aimed to benefit regions and industries with better political connections while worsening water access for marginalized people.
“They have built them in a way that the consequences are so bad for the environment,” Javedanfar said. “And there is so much lack of trust that even if the water projects were justified, people would oppose them. If the Iranian regime were to reinvent the wheel, some would complain that it’s too round.”
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on the government to “manage climate change and environmental threats,” but the response from successive governments has been mixed.
Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised populist schemes to help farmers, but allowed industries to build haphazardly, and he once blamed Iran’s drought on Western countries. President Hassan Rouhani, elected in 2013, has pumped funds into restoring the depleted Lake Urmia, but when he visited Khuzestan last year he was greeted by a fierce protest.
“In every election we try to send defenders of our rights to parliament or elect presidents who can address environmental issues…but in vain,” Babadi said.
Authorities cracked down swiftly on the recent protests in Shahr-e Kord, but Babadi predicted the respite would be temporary.
“The drought and water transfer projects are so dangerous and detrimental that environmental protests will resume soon,” he said.
To read the full UNPO Alternative UPR Report on Iran, click here.
On 23th Sep was the first day of academic year in Iran and according to residents and eye witnesses majority of schools in “Gheizanieh” district are not open to the students.
“Gheizanieh” district in Ahwaz has 80 villages and 38,000 in residence out of which 9,000 are students.
Mohammed Bavi, a member of the city council of Ahwaz stated that “Ghizanieh “ has 60 schools ,40% of which do not have teacher or administrative staff,Bavi added that in response to city council concerns, officials of department of education in Ahwaz reported that they are facing a serious shortness in staff and the families of the students have to take the matter in their own hand.
Meanwhile the same department of education has issued a memo that does not allow the employment of independent teachers.
Department of education in Ahwaz has prioritised districts such as “Zeytun Karmandi”, “Shahrak Naft”, “New side”, “Shahrak Haffari”, “Koye Naft” while ignoring suburbs such as “Ghizanieh”, “ Zergan”, Zowieh” and “Berval”.
According to reports 3 schools that were promised by the governor to receive students by the beginning of this school year, are left half-built due to lack of funds.
Iran's Ahwazi Arab minority: dissent against 'discrimination' Article by: Mamoon Alabbasi Saturday 28 February 2015 12:00 UTC link: click here The plight of Iran's Arab Ahwazi minority and their recent protests in the country's oil-rich southwest region, is being underreported despite serious and systematic discrimination against them by Tehran, exiled members of the community told Middle East Eye.
Arabs make up the majority of what is officially referred to as the Khuzestan province, but which Ahwazis call "Arabistan", as they use the region's historical name to stress their ethnic roots.
The official Iranian census does not break up the statistics into ethnic backgrounds, but members of the Ahwaz community say they number around 5 million out of Iran's 75 million population.
They are distinguished from another Arab community in Iran, known as the Hula, who live in the country's eastern coast and number around 1.5 million. Unlike the mainly Shiite Ahwazis, the Huwla Arabs are mostly Sunni.
There are also reportedly many Arabs in Khorasan province, and the ethnic group can be found in small numbers in many provinces. Although different Arab communities – as well as other minorities and groups - complain of discrimination, the Ahwazis claim they have it the worst.
Language and identity
The Ahwazis say they are facing two forms of discrimination: the first is with regards to their identity and language, while the second is related to their economic standing – including unemployment, health and environmental problems.
"Imagine, you have children whose first language at home is Arabic, then they would start primary school where they study everything in Persian," Ramadan Alsaedi, a London-based Ahwazi journalist, told MEE.
"They will first have problems in their studies at school, but also later on, as they learn to read and write in Persian, the literacy of their own mother-tongue suffers as they are not taught a single Arabic lesson till they reach intermediate level (around the age of 13)," explained Alsaedi.
"From the intermediate level onwards, Arabs will have access to one lesson per week of formal education, from a curriculum that that imposes the world view of the regime which denies [the Arab students'] own identity," he added.
Many Ahwazis seek to find a way around this by hiring private tutors to teach their children Arab culture as well as their language. However, if caught, these families are reportedly threatened with the severest punishments.
'Vague trumped up charges'
"By law, there is nothing prohibiting learning Arabic outside school hours or owning books of Arabic literature that are not sanctioned by the regime. But in reality, those who are implicated are often tried on vague trumped up charges, whose punishment could reach the death penalty," Yousef Azizi, an Ahwazi writer who now resides in Britain after fleeing Iran, told MEE.
"You could be charged with having 'relations with foreign officials' if you have Arabic books brought from outside Iran, but you may face a life sentence or even the death penalty for accusations like 'spreading corruption on earth' or 'enmity against God', which prosecutors and judges can apply with little need for explanation," said Azizi, who was himself sentenced to five years in prison for various charges, including "propaganda against the regime".
The Iranian constitution says that "the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed." However, Azizi and Alsaedi note, application has been the opposite.
Human rights activists, cultural and language campaigners as well as influential poets can find themselves facing the same punishments as dissidents who take up arms against the rule of central government, said Azizi, adding that "the regime's actions are pushing more people towards calling for independence from Tehran, although for the time being most people want more autonomy."
Rich in oil, gas and water resources
The Ahwazis enjoyed self-rule till 1925, when Iran's Shah Reza Pahlavi overthrew the region's Arab ruler, Sheikh Khazaal al-Haj Jabber, and seized total control the province, which today is reportedly the source of over 80 percent of the country's oil and 50 percent of its gas, not to mention its rich water supplies.
"The deliberate drying up of the region's marshes as well as the re-directing of its river waters to other [Persian] areas has left the Ahwazis suffering on many levels, not least of which are fishing and access to drinking water," Amir Saedi, a rights campaigner and a medical graduate based in London, told MEE.
"Iran's water-abundant region cannot irrigate its own farms as the regime's dams channel the river streams away from the use of the locals. The recent dust storm is a direct result of the regime's discriminatory water polices, which has harmed the environment of the province, leading to the worsening of people's health, including a rise in cancer cases," Saedi added.
Ahwaz was ranked by the World Heath Organisation (WHO) as the world's second-most polluted city in 2014, after topping the infamous chart in 2013, although many other Iranian cities suffer from serious pollution. But the official Iranian media response has been dismissive of the country's environmental problems.
The Ahwazis often complain that the region's original inhabitants don't see much of the benefits that their province has to offer, despite being the richest in oil, gas and water in the whole of Iran.
Pollution and unemployment
At the same time, while other regions are having a bigger share of Ahwaz's resources, the local Arabs are suffering the most from the resulting pollution, yet they have less money to pay for medical bills.
"Only 5 percent of governmental posts in the area are held by Arabs. The Arab-majority region has not had an Arab governor since 1925. In one oil-drilling company that had 4,000 employees, it was discovered that only seven of them were Arabs," said Azizi.
"You find jobs vacancies in Ahwaz being advertised outside the province, where Arabs are not even aware of posts available in their own backyard. And those who hear about them and apply hardly get the job anyway," he added.
The peak of the standoff between the government and Ahwazis was in 2005, where militants carried out a number of bombings and the army retaliated with deadly attacks. Two people were convicted the bombings and were hanged in 2006. Today, peaceful protests against discrimination, marginalisation and "imprisonment of non-violent dissidents" continue.
The exiled Ahwazis also spoke of a long-running campaign to change the demographic of the area, where high incentives are given to people from outside the region to work in the province, even though the unemployment figure sometimes hits 37 percent.
Anti-Arab discourse
They also spoke of outright racism at a national level, despite claims by many of the ruling clergy class that they are the descendants of Prophet Muhammad, who is an Arab.
"Other minorities, like the Kurds, Turkmen, Azeris, Baluchis and Lors may face 'national oppression'. But Iran's Ahwazis encounter the additional burden of anti-Arab discourse in the media and in literature," said Azizi.
"Arabs outside Iran don't know about it because this kind of racism does not feature in the regime's Arabic language publications and broadcast, targeting Arab viewers outside of Iran. But we (Iranian Arabs) feel it all the time," he added.
"The regime needs the Arabic language for propaganda purposes and also because a lot of its religious heritage is in classical Arabic. But they don't want the Ahwazis to communicate in their own indigenous language. They even changed the original Arabic names of many of the region's areas into Persian," said Azizi.
Conversions to Sunnism
The perceived crackdown on the Arab identity of the region is leading a growing number of Ahwazi youth to switch to the Sunni branch of the faith, which some of them view as closer to their Arab roots. Iran itself had been predominantly Sunni until Shah Ismail of the Safavid dynasty launched a forced conversion policy in the 16th century.
However, those Ahwazis who are converting to Sunni Islam may be giving the authorities another cause to land them in prison, even though there is no official law that bans changing your sect or religion.
Alsaedi, Azizi and Saedi argue that any identity or belief that falls outside what the ruling class has envisioned for Iran would be severely suppressed, with elastic charges that could be tailored to fit any form of perceived dissent. And to top that, Ahwazis don't have many friends at the top.
"If you don't subscribe for the regime's ideology, you won't even be allowed to run for elections, let alone win," said Saedi, "which is why the Arabs are underrepresented in government. The results are predetermined anyway."
