This initiative was conceptualized during a 4-day long study session entitled "Breaking Barriers! Youth Perspectives on Migration in Europe" organized through
Three Ahwazi Arabs were executed in secret today following convictions for threatening national security, according to the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO).
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i, first deputy of the Chief Justice, announced in June the death sentences against the three - Ghais Obidawi, Ahmad Obidawi and Sajad Balawi - as well as lengthy prison sentences and internal exile for four others. He accused them of "enmity with God", "corruption on the Earth", and "threatening national security" for alleged membership of an armed group that assassinated three members of the Revolutionary Guards.
Member of the Iranian Parliament Falahieh Majid has labelled the Iranian control of Sugarcane projects as racist against the local Ahwazi Arab population. Describing the valuable employment potential the sugarcane industry has for the local Ahwazi population, Naseri accused the shipping in of non-locals to work on the plantations as a sign of marginalisation of the Ahwazi. Sugarcane projects are a disaster for indigenous Ahwazi Arabs, the member of parliament for Falahieh (Shadegan) Majid Naseri said this week in an attack on racism. Naseri criticised the systematic discrimination in employment practices in the Ahwaz region's massive sugar industry that favour non-indigenous populations moved in from other provinces. He attacked the marginalisation of educated and unemployed indigenous Arabs. The plantations themselves have involved the forced relocation of thousands of native Arabs and environmental destruction due to the amount of water they require and the run-off of agro-industrial pollutants. In response to Naseri's criticism, an official said: "We import workers from other areas due to a lack of skilled workers in the province."However, Ahwazi Arabs have criticised the lack of training opportunities offered by the government for the numerous industrial projects in their homeland. They also point out that the local labour market has not been fully exploited before bringing in non-local workers. The plantations were the subject of strong condemnation from UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari, who said following a visit to the region in 2005: "When you visit Ahwaz in terms of the very adverse conditions in the neighbourhoods, there are thousands of people living with open sewers, no sanitation, no regular access to water, electricity and no gas connections. I think that the kind of question that arises is, why is that? Why have certain groups not benefited? "You notice that we drove outside the city about 20 km and we visited the areas where large development projects are coming up - sugar cane plantations and other projects along the river - and the estimate we received is that between 200,000-250,000 Arab people are being displaced from their villages because of these projects. "There is an attempt being made by the government to build new towns and bring in new people from other provinces. For example, there is the new town of Shirinshah where most of the people being brought into that town are people from Yazd province [in central Iran] - non-Arabs. So the question then is that these people who are being brought there, perhaps for work and lots of incentives, why is it that those jobs are not going to the locals?" As a result of his criticism of ethnic discrimination in Iran, the Iranian regime has refused to allow any visits from any UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on Iran Ahmed Shaheed, who has been banned from the country since he was appointed in 2010.
Rasoul Hardani; an Ahwazi Arab prisoner suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS), who is currently serving a 22-year sentence in Rajaee Shahr prison in Tehran, began a hunger strike today (Saturday July 2nd) in protest at his prolonged imprisonment and the intolerable conditions in the prison, which are reportedly further damaging his already poor health, according to human rights activists.
June 15, 2016 9:15 AM Meetings Location: Conference Rooms The Challenge of Pluralism in Iran June 15, 2016 9:15 AM – 4:30 PM Please RSVP by June 10, 2016: https://challengeofpluralisminiran.eventbrite.com Join us for a symposium on the history and aspirations of Iran's diverse population groups. As Iran moves toward reintegration with the global system, the country's rich mix of ethnic religious and cultural minorities are asking for greater national pluralism. The day will be spent discussing the optimal response from democratic governments, media and civil society. Speakers include: • Keynote Address by Mehrangiz Kar, Prominent Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and author of Crossing the Red Line • Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Ibn Khaldun Center • Karim Abdian, Ahwaz Human Rights Organization • M. Hossein Bor, American-Baloch Council • Ava Homa, Kurdish writer, editor and university lecturer • Anthony Vance, Baha’is of the United States • Ali Al-Taie, Sociologist & Author • Elahé Sharifpour-Hicks, Partners for Rights • Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch For a full list of speakers and additional event details visit https://challengeofpluralisminiran.eventbrite.com For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Hosted by the Ibn Khaldun Center and AHWAZ Human Rights Organization. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT, CONTACT: Annie Sznajder This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Iran impedes Dr.karim Abdian's selection as a new member of UNPFII ,United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Iran with coordination with its allies in the United Nation ,such as Russia ,China and other countries that can be considered its allies impeded Dr. Karim Abdiab , the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization director , and expert of international relations and diplomacy from being selected as a member of United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues during the 2017-2019 term . UNPFII is an advisory body to the United Nation economic and Social Council Last March Dr. Abdian was nominated among the 5 international experts for Asia to be a member of this forum of which Mr. Phoolman Chaudhary from Nepal became a member . Dr. Abdian congratulated Mr. Chaudhary for his selection as a member of UNPFII and wished him success . It is worthy to mention that the indigenous experts forum comprises of 16 members, of which 8 are appointed by the member states and the other 8 are elected from among the representatives of civil society organizations registered in the United Nations, which is more than 4,000 organizations through which Iran and its allies managed to prevent Dr.Karim Abdian's selection as a member in the forum . This by itself confirms Iranian regime's fear of the Ahwazi nation's fight in the international platforms and United Nation's institutes. Ahwaz Human Rights Organization 10/6/2016
The Challenge of Pluralism in Iran June 15, 2016 9:15 AM – 4:30 PM _________________ Please RSVP by June 10, 2016: https://challengeofpluralisminiran.eventbrite.com
Join us for a symposium on the history and aspirations of Iran's diverse population groups. As Iran moves toward reintegration with the global system, the country's rich mix of ethnic religious and cultural minorities are asking for greater national pluralism. The day will be spent discussing the optimal response from democratic governments, media and civil society. Speakers include: • Keynote Address by Mehrangiz Kar, Prominent Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and author of Crossing the Red Line • Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Ibn Khaldun Center • Karim Abdian, Ahwaz Human Rights Organization • M. Hossein Bor, American-Baloch Council • Ava Homa, Kurdish writer, editor and university lecturer • Anthony Vance, Baha’is of the United States • Ali Al-Taie, Sociologist & Author • Elahé Sharifpour-Hicks, Partners for Rights • Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch
For a full list of speakers and additional event details visit https://challengeofpluralisminiran.eventbrite.com For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Hosted by the Ibn Khaldun Center and AHWAZ Human Rights Organization.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT, CONTACT:
Annie Sznajder This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
London, MEFD – On Saturday 21st May 2016, Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) and Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization organised an international workshop on media and civil society in the Middle East at Cambridge House, London. The workshop was attended by Middle East Forum for Development (MEFD).
The event was moderated by Dr Sanjukta Ghosh, British Ahwazi Friendship Society and attended by Dr Karim Abdian, executive director of AHRO, Mosa Zahed, Executive Director of MEFD, Dr Wafik Mustafa, Chair of the British Arab Network and author of “Egypt, the elusive Arab Spring”, Mark Lattimer, Executive Director of Minority Rights Group International, Dr Nour Abu Assab, Director of the Centre for Transnational Development and Collaboration (CTDC) and Mehmet Aksoy, Editor-In-Chief at kurdishquestion.com. The panellists focused on media-related evidence of freedom of speech and human rights activism in the Middle East at the heart of international policy and advocacy practices. Moreover, special emphasis was placed on discussing the obstacles for journalists and civil society activists to share news and ideas on human rights in general.
“The experience from the Arab spring is that dictators, and big ones, were overthrown, not by Bolshevik-type parties but by young people utilising social media in Egypt, in Tunisia, in Libya and so on” said Dr Abdian.
Mosa Zahed specified that human rights activists in Iran used social media during the 2009 social protests for grassroots mobilisation and crowd reporting due to a regime of censorship. Zahed argued that “Modern day technology enabled human rights activists to expose, through detailed testimonies, torture and sexual harassment of men and women who were arrested during the 2009 protests and detained at the Kahrizak detention centre in Southern Tehran”. He emphasised that “As the Iranian authorities got away with the massacre of thousands of political prisoners in the space of a few months during the summer of 1988 without sparking global outrage or condemnation, Ali Khamenei was in 2009 confronted with a bitter reality, namely that getting away with atrocities would not be as easy in this digital era compared to previous decades”.
Dr Wafik Mustafa elaborated on the developments following the Arab Spring, with a particular focus on Egypt subsequent to the fall of the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Mustafa noted the need for caution in relation to the use of social media in human rights activism, as he believes that it is not always easy to verify reports circulated via this medium.
Mark Lattimer discussed the United Nations (U.N.) human rights mechanisms and explained its purposes in aiming to assist human rights activists in their future activities, within the U.N. framework.
Dr Nour Abu Assab argued that the U.N. often fails to address gross human rights violations despite well documented cases of atrocities, like the ones in Syria perpetrated by government forces. “One has to look to who is funding the United Nations in order to understand such phenomena”, Dr Assab added.
Mehmet Aksoy underscored the significance of social media in reporting human rights issues that mainstream media do not or cannot cover due to censorship by repressive states. Aksoy emphasised that his online news outlet which reports about Kurdish affairs and Kurdish movements in the Middle East, has acquired global significance enabling it to effectively convey issues relating to the Kurdish question.
The international workshop was attended by dozens of individuals and delegates, including representatives from Iran’s Azeri, Kurdish and Baloch communities.
A poverty and marginalisation story of an Ahwazi family on their home land #Mohammarah. Translated from Iranian news agency Asriran as well as #ISNA .
"In the Mohammara(Khoramshahr), it is as if I witness a historical scene."
This house is known to me. A few years ago when I passed this street, I saw an elderly man who was selling cigarettes in a stall. I saw this house in the area of Aria, embedded with 70’s architecture, the first porch almost in ruins. A 70-year old woman by the name of Shakeeba was sitting on the porch, smoking upwards towards the sky as her mind was infested with worries and pain. She struggled to speak Persian with ease, and often traded her words with Arabic alternatives. I understood from her words that she has had an operation on her heart, which has been causing her a lot of physical pain and distress. They had been living in this almost-destroyed house for 20-years, even though she had admitted that the house was not of her possession. She had been living her with her late-husband, children, in-laws and grandchildren. The landlord was a good person, she had told me, and they weren’t force to pay for their stay. However he had eventually sold that piece of land to another person and that new landlord was demanding rent from them. Inside the house, the death of her husband was very evident; his area seemed to be deserted even though he passed away about two and half years ago. One of Shakeebas grandchildren, Ayat, who was in the fourth-grade was translating for us, she learns Persian at school. Ayat explains to us that her grandma feels tearful reminiscing about her marriage 60 years ago in this very area, the Mohammara, during the Shah era. Her late-husband was working in Kuwait in a printing office. Due to the 1979 revolution and the war, they fled the Mohammara and searched for safety in Ahwaz, her emotions pouring at her memories. It was as if she was telling me a historical love story. With her un-stoppable emotions she explained how her husband had sold the cigarette stall to help pay for her heart-operation, wiping away her tears with her traditionally worn Abaya. She flattered her husband, boasting of his good nature. They were so in love and loyal to each other, expressing a true form of friendship. The sincerity of her husband is what is keeping this unwell woman alive now.
Ayat, Shakeebas granddaughter does very well at school; she speaks with the dialect of the people of Mohammara. She manages her two younger siblings, Karrar and Ghahar aged 7 and 8. Ayat was living with her grandmother and her two uncles in this very house. And when her grandfather passed away, her uncles went their separate ways. Ayat’s father is a driver, he works with a contractor, and her young mother is pregnant and expecting a child soon. As Ayat translated the number 60 to her grandmother, she thinks of her long-lasting marriage. It seems that Shakeebas story is one of many in the Mohammara, and it seems as though there will be even more in the future.
Ahwaz Human Rights Organization AHRO) has received confirmed news via credible source from AL Ahwaz that about 50 skilled and semi-skilled Ahwazi workers in the largest refinery in Abadan have been fired by their employer and in turn their places have been filled with non-Arabs incomers who are overwhelmingly unskilled workers.
