Ahwazi Arabs statement in Human Rights Council- 20th Session

 Ahwaz (South and Southwest of Iran).

28th June 2012

Ahwazi Arabs statement in Human Rights Council, 20th Session

The side event

Submitted by: Ahwazi Centre for Human Right

SOURCE: Ahwazi Center for Human Rights

……... Chairman

Ladies and Gentlemen

Before I start my statement, let me in my name and on behalf of the people of Ahwaz in South and South West of Iran, thank all the freedom strivers in all over the world and especially those who present at this and other similar meetings, which have become influential platforms for the voices of persecuted and oppressed peoples.

This year, the Iranian government prepared well in advance to preempt any uprising; rounding up prominent members of the Ahwazi community, killing some under torture, broadcasting forced confessions on its international Press TV network and imposing martial law on Ahwazi Arab districts. Around 100 people were arrested in the run-up to the planned protests on March and April, in a clear attempt to intimidate the Arab population of Ahwaz.

Three Ahwazi Arabs are known to have been killed during this barbaric attack without any trail. Naser Alboshoka 19 year old and Mohammad Kaabi 32 years old, were killed under torture few days after arrest , 15 year old Hassan Tamer Haidari was killed by a life bullet in a raid to his parents house.

The execution of four Ahwazi Arabs last week on Monday morning 18th of June, 2012, three brothers namely Abbas Haidarian, Taha Haidarian and Abdurrahman Haidarian and their friend Ali Naimi (Sharifi)., who had all been arrested in April 2011 after a massive demonstration called the “Ahwazi Day of Rage”, is the latest in a series of barbaric hangings, designed to terrorise the Arab population into submission.

Brutal attack of Iran’s security forces on Ahwazi Arabs and arrest of 30 people from Malashieh district in a protest after execution of the three brothers and their friend, and security forces took the detainees to unknown places, after they staged a loud protest on 16th of Jun 2012 in condemnation of the execution against a group of youths of Malashieh.

The “Ahwazi Centre For Human Rights” received the names of a number of detainees and they are;

1- Nasser Bawi 27 years old son of Habib, married and has two children,2- Mansour Bawi 22 years old, son of Habib,

3- Ismail Dahimi 23 years old,

4- Rahim Ben Hajj Chanbar 38 years old, married and has 6 children,

We will continue investigating the rest of the names.

On the other hand, the Iranian regime in the past few days, repeated commission of various forms of murder against the Arab people of Ahwaz, security elements killed a prisoner namely Salem Sawari 28 years old son of Haidar in Sepidar prison on Thursday, 14th of June, 2012 during a protest of prisoners for the ill-treatment they receive in prisons, and spread news of the intention of the prison administration in implementing of the execution against 5 of Ahwazi political prisoners.

The Iranian authorities in this criminal act, despite the appeals launched by the European Union, the British Parliament, the Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch plus many other official figures and international organisations and centres to abolish the execution, issued against those Ahwazi Arabs, secretly executed four or five of them, and there is possibility that executes another group any later.

Last week the European Parliament once again has condemned ill-treatment of the Iranian regime against non-Persian peoples in Iran, led by the Arabs of Ahwaz and called the Iranian authorities to abolish the death penalty against Ahwazis.

As a result, the number of people killed by the security authorities in Iran last two weeks, reached  six people and 13 are awaiting execution, according to "Press TV" which interviewed 18 Ahwazi few weeks ago attributed to them different  charges the least lead to execution.

The “Ahwazi Center For Human Rights" condemns these inhuman acts severely and requests from  all  the international organizations and centres of human rights to continue their campaign to press on Iran to stop the implementation of the unfair trials against the people of Ahwaz and warns that lack of attention on what is happening for prisoners in Iran will lead to a humanitarian disaster, the Iranian regime habituated to commit  in cold blood, and gradually in light of the world’s preoccupation on other subjects  such as the Iranian nuclear issue.

The names of Ahwazi Arabs who are likely to be subjected to execution and are now languishing in prison awaiting death:

1 - Hadi Rashedi 38-year old

2 - Hashem Shabani Amuri 31-year old

3 - Rahman Asakereh 33-year old

4 - Mohamed Ali Amuri 33-year old

5 - Jabbar Albushoka 27-year old

6 - Mukhtar Albushoka 25 years old

7 - Khaled Abidawi 26-year old

8 - Hassan Abayat

9- Idan beit Sayah 37-year old

10- Jassem Sawaedi

11 - Ahmed Dabbat 21 years old

12 - Maher Chabi (Ka’abi)

13- Sajjad Beit Abdullah

For more details please contact:

Ali Saedi

Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights

www.acfh.info

ahwazi.cfhr@gmail.com

00447864555134

http://acfh.info/ahwaz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=150:ahwazi-arabs&catid=44:2010-09-16-17-14-58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wLnIq9d_tM http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/184

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/iran-must-not-execute-five-arab-minority-prisoners-2012-06-11 http://ahwazsolidarity.org/1/post/2012/06/european-parliament-condemns-treatment-of-ahwazi-arabs.html http://www.ahwazsolidarity.org/

http://ahwazsolidarity.org/uploads/AHRR2012.pdf

http://www.presstv.ir/Program/215617.html)

Ahwazi Centre For Human Rights-Geneva2012

Turkish troops, anti-aircraft guns stationed on Syrian border

Turkey is deploying troops along its border with Syria after one of its jets was shot down by Syria over the Mediterranean last week, a Turkish official said on Thursday.

“I can confirm there are troops being deployed along the border in Hatay province. Turkey is taking precautions after its jet was shot down,” the official told Reuters news agency condition of anonymity.

He said he did not know how many troops or vehicles were being moved but said they were being stationed in the Yayladagi, Altinozu and Reyhanli border areas of Turkey’s southern Hatay province. He said anti-aircraft guns were being stationed along the border.

He could not confirm media reports of troop movements further east along the border in the Turkish provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused neighboring Syria of a “hostile act” and “heinous attack” in shooting down the army jet in international airspace without warning.

“We did not receive a single warning, note from Syria (regarding airspace violation)...They acted without (warning). This is a hostile act,” Erdogan told a parliamentary meeting, in which he called the Syrian fire a “heinous attack.”

Turkish warplane should not be mistaken for weakness, warning Turkey’s wrath was as strong as its friendship was valuable.

Turkey was totally in the right over Syria’s “downing of an unarmed reconnaissance jet in international air space” last week, Erdogan said in a speech to his ruling AK Party deputies in parliament.

Erdogan said that the Turkish Armed Forces’ rules of engagement have changed and they will respond to any violation on the Syrian border.

Turkey would not engage in war-mongering, but the attack on the reconnaissance jet, which was deliberately targeted, would not be left unanswered, Erdogan said.

The downing of the jet has aggravated tense ties between the two neighbors. Turkey has repeatedly called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down as 33,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey, fleeing a government crackdown on a popular uprising.

But Russia, a long-time Syrian ally, on Tuesday said Syria’s shooting down of the Turkish warplane should not be seen as a provocation and warned world powers against using the incident to push for stronger action against Damascus.

Turkey’s NATO allies on Tuesday condemned Syria’s action as unacceptable but stopped short of threatening any military response. Turkey also plans to approach the U.N. Security Council.

“We think it is important that what happened is not viewed as a provocation or a premeditated action (by Syria),” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

Obama shows U.S. backing to UAE over islands’ row with Iran

 Al Arabiya News

The United States early Thursday backed the United Arab Emirates in its dispute with Iran over three Gulf islands, as President Barack Obama met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahayan.

The two leaders met for lunch at the White House and issued a joint call for a peaceful resolution of the status of the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, occupied by the Islamic Republic but claimed by the UAE.

A joint U.S. and UAE statement issued after the meeting, which was closed to the press, said Obama and the prince “called for a peaceful resolution of the islands’ status.”

The United States “strongly supports the UAE’s initiative to resolve the issue through direct negotiations, the International Court of Justice, or another appropriate international forum,” the statement said.

The UAE claims the islands under the terms of a 1971 agreement signed when Britain ended its colonial-era reign over that part of the Gulf.

Iran rejects any UAE claim to the islands, saying they have always been part of its territory.

The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards made a pointed visit to islands in May, in what was seen by the UAE as a provocation.

Obama and Nahayan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, also called on Iran to meet its international nuclear obligations and backed U.N. envoy Kofi Annan’s tattered plan designed to end bloodshed in Syria, calling for a political transition there.

“Noting the profound changes taking place in other countries in the Middle East, they called on governments and citizens alike to avoid violence, advance tolerance, and protect human rights -- particularly the rights of women,” the statement said.

“They highlighted the importance of reforms that support accountable governance, increase civic participation, and promote economic opportunities, especially for young people.”

As security tensions rise in the Gulf in the absence of diplomatic progress on ending Iran’s nuclear program, Obama and Prince Nahayan also pledged to conduct more military exercises and training and to identify future defense equipment sales.

“The President and Crown Prince discussed the importance of protecting critical shipping lanes against threats of aggression, terrorism, and piracy. The President congratulated the Crown Prince on the announcement of the opening of a new 1.5 million (barrels per day) oil pipeline that crosses the UAE.”

The pipeline would allow supplies to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a potential choke point in the event of a U.S. military showdown with Iran.

Document - Iran: Four members of Ahwazi Arab minority executed after unfair trial

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT

AI Index: MDE 13/043/2012

22 June 2012

Iran: Four members of Ahwazi Arab minority executed after unfair trial

Amnesty International considers that apparent execution of at least four men, including three brothers – all members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority - following an unfair trial lacking any transparency encapsulates all the worst aspects of Iran’s state killing machine.

Ahwazi activists close to the family told Amnesty International that brothers Abd al-Rahman Heidarian, 23, (also known as Heidari), Abbas Heidarian, 25 and Taha Heidarian, 28, along with a fourth man named Ali Sharifi, were executed in Ahvaz’s Karoun Prison on or around 19 June 2012. They said that following their execution, the men’s bodies were not returned to their families.

The fate of a fifth man, Mansour Heidarian, who was detained in the same case and believed to be a cousin of the brothers, is unknown.

The brothers and Mansour Heidarian were apparently convicted by a Revolutionary Court of moharebeh va ifsad fil-arz or “enmity against God and corruption on earth” in connection with the killing of a law enforcement official in April 2011 amidst widespread protests in Khuzestan.

Yet another man, Amir Muawi, (or Mo’avi) who may have been tried in connection with the same case has reportedly been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, to be served in internal exile. However, Amnesty International is unaware of the exact details of the charges against him and his trial proceedings. Earlier reports suggested that he had been sentenced to death.

The three brothers and Amir Muawi were reportedly arrested around 18-19 April 2011, in connection with a demonstration in Ta’awen Street, in Malashiya during unrest in Khuzestan marking the sixth anniversary of unrest in the province. Malashiva is an impoverished district in the east of the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan, in south western Iran. Amnesty International is unaware of the date of Mansour Heidarian’s arrest.

The activists told Amnesty International that the men were held in solitary confinement at a facility under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence in the Chahar Shir district of the city Ahvaz. It is not known when they were initially tried, but it appears that the decision by Iran’s Supreme Court to uphold their death sentences was communicated to family members on or around 5 March 2012

Under Iranian law, lawyers must receive 48 hours’ notice of their client’s execution, but it is not clear whether these six men have ever been permitted legal representation.

Amnesty International believes their trial was unfair, as it appears that the men were not represented by lawyers of their choice, and at least one was shown on a national television channel “confessing” to the crime. It is not known when the men’s initial trials before a Revolutionary Court took place. Their families have said the men “confessed” to murder, but did so under torture or other ill-treatment. Iranian courts frequently accept “confessions” extracted under duress as evidence.

Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees is commonplace in Iran, often to try to force detainees to make “confessions”. Coerced “confessions”, sometimes broadcast on television even before the trial has concluded, are often accepted as evidence in Iranian courts.

The three brothers, as well as Ali Sharifi, Amir Muawi and Mansour Heidarian, were reportedly transferred to solitary confinement on or around 9 June 2012. Transfer to solitary confinement of death row prisoners frequently happens before executions are carried out.

Amnesty International recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all states to protect those under their jurisdiction and to uphold the rule of law. However, the organization is unconditionally opposed to the death penalty, which it considers to be the ultimate violation of the right to life, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the individual, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.

In this regard, the organization is deeply dismayed at the execution of these four men after apparently unfair trials, which violate Iran’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which it is a state party.

Amnesty International has also learned that a fourth brother, Jalil Heidarian, was summoned to an office of the Ministry of Intelligence in Ahwaz on or around 9 June 2012. Apart from a quick telephone call to his family on the day of his arrest, the Heidarian family has not had any further contact with him and are unaware of his current legal status.

Amnesty International is calling for the authorities to immediately inform Jalil Heidarian’s family of his whereabouts and his current legal status, and for the fate of the other six men to be clarified. While held, he should be protected from torture or other ill-treatment, granted access to his family and a lawyer of his choice, and to all necessary medical care. If he is not to be charged and promptly tried on an internationally recognizable criminal offence, he should be released.

 �Background

Ahwazi Arabs, one of Iran’s many minorities often complain that they are marginalized and discriminated against in access to education, employment, adequate housing, political participation and cultural rights.  Some Ahwazi Arabs – who are mostly Shi’a Muslims like the majority of people in Iran – have formed groups calling for a separate Arab state in the area.��In April 2005, Khuzestan province was the scene of mass demonstrations, after reports that Iran’s government planned to disperse Ahwazi Arabs from the area and to attempt to weaken their ethnic identity.

In April 2011, members of the Ahwazi Arab minority organized “Day of Rage” protests across Khuzestan province to mark the sixth anniversary of the earlier unrest. Afterwards, Amnesty International was given the names of 27 people allegedly killed in clashes with the security forces, including in the Malashiya neighbourhood. Ahwazi Arab sources claim there were more casualties, while the Iranian authorities claim only three people died.

Posted in: قسم الانجليزي

Iran's brutal attack and arrest of many people from district of the Malashieh in their protest against execution of three Arabs in Ahwaz.

Iranian Security forces, in Ahwaz southwest of Iran attacked the unarmed citizens of the Ahwazi Arabs in the district of the Malashieh and arrested 30 young men and took them to unknown places, after they staged a loud protest on 16^th of Jun 2012 in condemnation of the execution against a group of youths from Malashieh Three of them  wrer brothers,namely Abbas Haidarian, Taha Haidarian and Abdarahman Haidarian who had been arrested in April 2011 after a massive demonstration called the Ahwazi Day of Anger.  The “Ahwazi Centre For Human Rights” received the names of a number of detainees and they are,

Nasser Bawie  27 years old son of Habib, married and has two children, Mansour Bawi 22 years old, son of Habib, Ismail Dahimi 23 years old, Rahim ben Haji Chanbar 38 years old, married and has 6 children, and we will continue investigating  the rest of the names.

On the other hand, the Iranian regime in the past few days, repeated commission of various forms of murder against the Arab people of Ahwaz, security elements killing in Sapidar prison prisoner Salem Sawri 28 years old son of Haidar on the last Thursday, 14/06/2012 during a protest of prisoners on the inhuman methods which taken by the security authorities of the prison for the ill-treatment of prisoners and spread news of the intention of  the prison administration in the implementation of the death sentence against 5 of Ahwazi political prisoners.

Later on Monday morning June 18, 2012 security forces carried implemented the execution against four of the political prisoners of Ahwazi Arabs, three of them wrer the brothers namely Abbas, Taha, Abdarahman and the fourth was their friend Ali Naimi (Sharifi).

The Iranian authorities in this criminal act, despite the appeals launched by the European Union and the British Parliament and Amnesty International to abolish the death penalty, issued against those Ahwazi Arabs, but the Iranian authorities secretly executed four or five of them, and there is possibility that executes the another group any later.

The European Parliament has condemned last week the ill-treatment of the Iranian regime against non-Persian peoples in Iran, led by the Arabs of Ahwaz and called the Iranian authorities to abolish the death penalty against Ahwazis.

As a result the number of people killed by the security authorities in Iran reached  six people and some others are awaiting execution and unfair sentences according to "Press TV" broadcast a few weeks ago which interviewed 18 Ahwazi attributed to them different charges the least lead to execution by the Iranian Constitution.

The “Ahwazi Center For Human Rights" condemns these inhuman acts severely and claims all  the international organizations and centers of human rights to continue their campaign to push Iran to stop the implementation of the unfair trials against the people of Ahwaz and warns that absent-mindedness about what is going on prisoners in Iran will lead to a humanitarian disaster, the Iranian regime habituated to commit  in cold blood, and gradually in light of the world’s busyness on other subjects  such as the Iranian nuclear file.

Ahwazi names who are likely to issue a death sentence against them and are now languishing in prison awaiting death:

1 - Hadi Rashedi 38-year old

2 - Hashim Shabani Amuri 31-year old

3 - Rahman Asakereh 33-year old

4 - Mohamed Ali Amuri 33-year old

5 - Jabbar Albushoka 27-year old

6 - Mukhtar Albushoka 25 years old

7 - Khaled Abideaua 26-year old

8 - Hassan Abayat

9 - Eden House cries 37-year old

10 Jassim Sawedi

11 – Ahmed Dabbat 21 years old

12 - Maher Chabi (Ka’abi)

13 – Sajjad Beit  Abdullah

ahwazi center for human rights 

http://www.acfh.info/ahwaz

21\06\2012

Iran: Reveal Fate of Arab Minority Prisoners

Related Materials: 

Iran: Arrest Sweeps Target Arab Minority

Iran: Investigate Reported Killings of Demonstrators

Prison officials need to let the families of these men know what has happened to their loved ones. Even when someone has been convicted of a serious crime, it doesn’t mean the person’s family should be left in the dark – and the authorities need to deliver the bodies of those executed to allow proper burial.

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director

(New York) – Iranian authorities should immediately provide information regarding the whereabouts and well-being of seven men from the country’s ethnic Arab minority who are known to be in Iranian custody. Human Rights Watch is concerned that prison authorities in the southwestern city of Ahvaz may have executed at least four of the seven men in recent days, and have so far refused to hand over the bodies to their families. Iranian authorities should immediately suspend use of the death penalty.

Sources close to the families of three brothers – Taha Heidarian, 28; Abbas Heidarian, 25; and Abdul-Rahman Heidarian, 23 – told Human Rights Watch that on June 17 authorities notified the family that the three had been executed. Two weeks ago, prison authorities had transferred the brothers, along with three other prisoners, from Karun prison’s general ward to an unknown location. Another brother was arrested and also taken to an unknown location when he inquired about their whereabouts. The brothers’ families had not received any information since their transfer, raising fears that four of the men, who had been sentenced to death, would be executed within days. The fourth man believed to have been executed is Ali Naami Sharifi.

“Prison officials need to let the families of these men know what has happened to their loved ones,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Even when someone has been convicted of a serious crime, it doesn’t mean the person’s family should be left in the dark – and the authorities need to deliver the bodies of those executed to allow proper burial.”

Security forces arrested the Heidarian brothers and Sharifi following anti-government protests in several towns across Iran’s Arab-majority Khuzestan province on or after April 15, 2011. They alleged that the detainees were responsible for the murder of a policeman. The April 2011 protests were held to mark the sixth anniversary of the 2005 protests in Khuzestan, in which security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrators in Ahvaz and other cities and towns, killing at least 50 protesters and detaining hundreds. The demonstrators maintain that the Iranian government systematically discriminates against the Arab minority, particularly in employment, housing, and civil and political rights.

Several sources inside as well as outside Iran close to the families of the detainees told Human Rights Watch that on June 9 officials in Ahvaz’s Karun prison transferred Taha, Abbas, and Abdul-Rahman Heidarian and three others, Mansour Heidarian, Amir Moavi, and Sharifi to an unknown location. The sources said that on the same day authorities also arrested Abdul-Jalil Heidarian, another Heidarian brother, when he attempted to find out more information about his brothers’ case, and similarly transferred him to an unknown location. A source told Human Rights Watch that a revolutionary court has sentenced Moavi to 15 years of internal exile on national security charges, and that he is not on death row.

A revolutionary court in Ahvaz convicted the Heidarian brothers, along with Sharifi, of killing the police officer and injuring another during the April 15, 2011 protests, Iranian Arab activists told Human Rights Watch. Prosecutors are believed to have charged the men with moharebeh (“enmity against God”) and efsad-e fel arz (“sowing corruption on earth”), charges that carry the death penalty. On March 5, Intelligence Ministry officials informed the detainees’ families that the Supreme Court had affirmed the lower court’s ruling and sentence, and said the detainees were likely to be executed imminently.

Human Rights Watch has not been able to find any public information about when and where the initial trial was held. Authorities denied the detainees regular access to their families and lawyers during the pretrial period, prompting fears that the men were subjected to torture to make them confess, the sources said.

On December 13, 2011, Press TV, a government English-language station, aired a documentary featuring three Arab men who confessed on camera that they had carried out “terrorist activities.” The program alleged that the men – Hadi Rashedi, Hashem Shaabani, and Taha Heidarian – were part of a group called “Khalq-e Arab,” and further alleged that this group was supported by the United States and United Kingdom, as well as foreign-based Iranian Arabs who fronted as human rights activists.

A source who knows both Rashedi and Shaabani previously told Human Rights Watch that they were among more than 10 residents of Khalafabad, a town about 120 kilometers southeast of Ahvaz, who had been arrested and detained by authorities since January 2011. Little information is available regarding the charges against Rashedi and Shaabani, but sources fear they may suffer the same fate as Taha Heidarian and the others.

Since May 2011, authorities have executed at least 11 Iranian Arab men and a 16-year-old boy in Karun prison for their alleged links to groups involved in attacking security forces, Human Rights Watch said. Rights activists told Human Rights Watch that at least another six people have been tortured to death in the custody of security and intelligence forces in connection with anti-government demonstrations by that swept across Khuzestan province in April 2011 and 2012.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because of its irreversible, cruel, and inhumane nature.

In April 2011, Human Rights Watch documented the use of live ammunition by security forces against protesters in cities throughout Khuzestan province, killing dozens and wounding many more. No Iranian officials have been investigated in connection with these killings.

Human Rights Watch also renewed its call on Iranian authorities to allow independent international media and human rights organizations access to investigate allegations of serious rights violations in Khuzestan province.

“The high number of reported arrests and killings in Khuzestan province in recent years, combined with the information blackout, suggests that the government has terrible things it wants to hide,” Stork said. “Simple justice requires the authorities to open independent and transparent investigations into the fate of those arrested and the allegations of torture.”

Iran's brutal attack and arrest of many people from district of the Malashieh in their protest against execution of three Arabs in Ahwaz

Iranian Security forces, in Ahwaz southwest of Iran attacked the unarmed citizens of the Ahwazi Arabs in the district of the Malashieh and arrested 30

young men and took them to unknown places, after they staged a loud protest on 16^th of Jun 2012 in condemnation of the execution against a group of youths from Malashieh Three of them  wrer brothers,namely Abbas Haidarian, Taha Haidarian and Abdarahman Haidarian who had been arrested in April 2011 after a massive demonstration called the Ahwazi Day of Anger.  The “Ahwazi Centre For Human Rights” received the names of a number of detainees and they are,

Nasser Bawie  27 years old son of Habib, married and has two children, Mansour Bawi 22 years old, son of Habib, Ismail Dahimi 23 years old, Rahim ben Haji Chanbar 38 years old, married and has 6 children, and we will continue investigating  the rest of the names.e

On the other hand, the Iranian regime in the past few days, repeated commission of various forms of murder against the Arab people of Ahwaz, security elements killing in Sapidar prison prisoner Salem Sawri 28 years old son of Haidar on the last Thursday, 14/06/2012 during a protest of prisoners on the inhuman methods which taken by the security authorities of the prison for the ill-treatment of prisoners and spread news of the intention of  the prison administration in the implementation of the death sentence against 5 of Ahwazi political prisoners.e

Later on Monday morning June 18, 2012 security forces carried implemented the execution against four of the political prisoners of Ahwazi Arabs, three of them wrer the brothers namely Abbas, Taha, Abdarahman and the fourth was their friend Ali Naimi (Sharifi).

The Iranian authorities in this criminal act, despite the appeals launched by the European Union and the British Parliament and Amnesty International to abolish the death penalty, issued against those Ahwazi Arabs, but the Iranian authorities secretly executed four or five of them, and there is possibility that executes the another group any later.e

The European Parliament has condemned last week the ill-treatment of the Iranian regime against non-Persian peoples in Iran, led by the Arabs of Ahwaz and called the Iranian authorities to abolish the death penalty against Ahwazis.e

As a result the number of people killed by the security authorities in Iran reached  six people and some others are awaiting execution and unfair sentences according to "Press TV" broadcast a few weeks ago which interviewed 18 Ahwazi attributed to them different charges the least lead to execution by the Iranian Constitution.

The “Ahwazi Center For Human Rights" condemns these inhuman acts severely and claims all  the international organizations and centers of human rights to continue their campaign to push Iran to stop the implementation of the unfair trials against the people of Ahwaz and warns that absent-mindedness about what is going on prisoners in Iran will lead to a humanitarian disaster, the Iranian regime habituated to commit  in cold blood, and gradually in light of the world’s busyness on other subjects  such as the Iranian nuclear file.e

Ahwazi names who are likely to issue a death sentence against them and are now languishing in prison awaiting death:e

e1 - Hadi Rashedi 38-year old

e2 - Hashim Shabani Amuri 31-year old

e3 - Rahman Asakereh 33-year old

e4 - Mohamed Ali Amuri 33-year old

e5 - Jabbar Albushoka 27-year old

e6 - Mukhtar Albushoka 25 years old

e7 - Khaled Abideaua 26-year old

e8 - Hassan Abayat

e9 - Eden House cries 37-year old

e10 Jassim Sawedi

e11 – Ahmed Dabbat 21 years old

e12 - Maher Chabi (Ka’abi)

e13 – Sajjad Beit  Abdullah

Iran executes three detained brothers from Ahwaz region

Al Arabiya News
Iran executed on Monday three brothers from the Ahwazi Arab community who were detained in April 2011 and were later sentenced to death for allegedly killing a law enforcement official, a charge dismissed by international rights groups as false.

The Brothers –Abdul Rahman Heidari, Taha Heidari and Jamshid Heidari – were reportedly detained together with their cousin Mansour Heidari and Amir Muawi during the unrest in the Khuzestan province.

Ahmad Haidaran, a relative of the three brothers who currently lives in Turkey as a refugee, told Al Arabiya that his family from Ahwaz informed him of the executions.

Haidaran said he also confirmed the report in a phone call with the family of the victims and that he heard crying and sobbing in the background.

Amnesty International had urged the Iranian authorities last Monday to overturn the death sentences against the five detainees.

The right group released the statement after the prisoners were moved to an unknown location over the weekend, indicating that they are facing imminent execution.

“The men were transferred out of the general section of Karoun Prison in the south-western city of Ahvaz on Saturday, prompting concerns their death sentences may be about to be carried out,” Amnesty reported.

Death row prisoners in Iran are generally transferred to solitary confinement shortly before their executions.

Ahwazi Arabs, one of the country’s many minorities – who are mostly Shiite Muslims like the majority in Iran – live mainly in the oil-rich south-western province of Khuzestan and often complain of being “marginalized and discriminated against in access to education, employment, adequate housing, political participation and cultural rights.”

In 2005, Khuzestan was the scene of mass demonstrations to protest Iran’s government policies.

In a similar case in early May 2011, the Iranian authorities reportedly executed at least eight Ahwazi Arabs - including Hashem Hamidi, believed to be 16 years old – “for their alleged role in the deaths of a law enforcement official and two others during clashes”.

Iranian security forces killed one prisoner after brutal attack on the prisoners in Karoon and Sepidar prisons in the city of Ahwaz.e

On Wednesday Jun, 13^th, 2012 after the spread of news about the intention of the management of prisons in the Karoon prison to implement the death penalty against six of the Ahwazi Arab prisoners, the rest of the political prisoners conducted a strike and mass protest in both Sepidar and Karoon prisons in same time in objection to this action and other abusive tactics carried out by the Iranian authorities in dealing with Arab prisoners in Ahwaz cities.e

This humanitarian act of the prisoners pushed the security authorities to mobilize their  forces in the two prisons and a day later on Thursday 14/06/2012 The officials gather in the vicinity of the prison all prisoner and issued an orders to their troops to attack the prisoners with sticks and batons and beat them brutally until one was killed and others were injured, some seriously injured and then refrain from transferring them to clinics for treatment, and management of prisons were contented with addressing wounded superficially.e

The prisoner who was killed is Salem Sawari, 28 years old, son Haidar.e

Salem was arrested in 2006 carrying some Ahwazi national flags documents and publications. He received then unfair trial and issued a sentence of imprisonment for 10 years, added to those other two years to become 12 years because of his continuing objection of the methods used by the prison administration against the prisoners.e

In addition there is information about the prison authorities in Ahwaz who recently force the prisoners to drink a liquid called "Metadyne" to numb them and addict them to drugs and finally catch ordeal addictive disease.e

European Parliament debate on ethnic minorities in Iran

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MEPs send out an strong and unequivocal message to the Iranian government that its ongoing persecution of ethnic minorities cannot be tolerated and should be dealt with.

For more information, go to: http://ahwazsolidarity.org/1/post/2012/06/european-parliament-condemns-treatm...

In order, speakers were: Jaroslav Paška, Rui Tavares, Véronique De Keyser, Marietje Schaake, Eija-Riitta Korhola, Marie-Christine Vergiat, Janusz Wojciechowski, Bernd Posselt, Kristiina Ojuland, Marek Józef Gróbarczyk, Sergio Paolo Francesco Silvestris, Bogusław Sonik, Corina Creţu, Oldřich Vlasák, Sidonia Elżbieta Jędrzejewska, Peter Skinner and John Dalli.

Iran must overturn death sentence of Ahwazi Arabs: Amnesty

Amnesty International urged the Iranian authorities

 on Monday to immediately overturn the death sentences against five members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority.

The right group released the statement after the prisoners were moved to an unknown location over the weekend, indicating that they are facing imminent execution.

“The men were transferred out of the general section of Karoun Prison in the south-western city of Ahvaz on Saturday, prompting concerns their death sentences may be about to be carried out,” reported Amnesty.

Death row prisoners in Iran are generally transferred to solitary confinement shortly before their executions take place.

The group includes three brothers, Abd al-Rahman Heidari, Taha Heidari and Jamshid Heidari, their cousin Mansour Heidari and Amir Muawi.

All five men were arrested in April 2011 amid unrest in the Khuzestan province and were later convicted of “Moharebeh” (enmity against God) for killing a law enforcement official.

The charge of “enmity against God and corruption on earth” carries the death penalty in Iran.

“Iran must urgently halt any plans to execute these five Ahwazi men. The death sentences of all who languish on death row in Iranian prisons should be overturned or commuted,” said Ann Harrison, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Program Director at Amnesty International.

“Their families must be informed immediately of their whereabouts and fate, and they should be allowed access to lawyers of their choice. While held, they must be protected from all forms of torture or other ill-treatment and granted all necessary medical care,” she said.

Under Iranian law, lawyers must receive 48 hours’ notice of their client’s execution, but it is not clear whether these five men have ever been permitted legal representation, said Amnesty.

On March 5, 2012, Iranian Ministry of Intelligence officials informed the men’s families that the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty for all five prisoners.

Amnesty questioned the dates of the men’s initial trials before a Revolutionary Court. Their families have said the men “confessed” to murder, but did so under torture or other ill-treatment.

Ahwazi Arabs, one of the country’s many minorities, – who are mostly Shiite Muslims like the majority of people in Iran – live mainly in the oil-rich south-western province of Khuzestan and often complain of being “marginalized and discriminated against in access to education, employment, adequate housing, political participation and cultural rights.”

In 2005, Khuzestan was the scene of mass demonstrations to protest Iran’s government policies.

In a similar case in early May 2011, the Iranian authorities reportedly executed at least eight Ahwazi Arabs - including Hashem Hamidi, believed to be 16 years old – “for their alleged role in the deaths of a law enforcement official and two others during clashes”.

“Ahwazi Arabs - like everyone else in Iran - have the right to peacefully express their opposition to government policies. Iran’s authorities must review legislation which discriminates against Ahwazi Arabs and other ethnic and religious minorities.

Otherwise, the cycle of grievance, protest and unrest will only continue,” said Harrison.

Iran must not execute five Arab minority prisoners

The Iranian authorities must immediately overturn the death sentences of five members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority who were tried unfairly and may face imminent public execution, Amnesty International said after the prisoners were moved to an unknown location at the weekend.

The men were transferred out of the general section of Karoun Prison in the south-western city of Ahvaz on Saturday, prompting concerns their death sentences may be about to be carried out.

The group includes three brothers, Abd al-Rahman Heidari, Taha Heidari and Jamshid Heidari, their cousin Mansour Heidari and Amir Muawi.

All five were arrested in April 2011 amid unrest in Khuzestan province – where most of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority lives – and were later convicted of moharebeh (“enmity against God”) for killing a law enforcement official.

“Iran must urgently halt any plans to execute these five Ahwazi men. The death sentences of all who languish on death row in Iranian prisons should be overturned or commuted,” said Ann Harrison, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.

“Their families must be informed immediately of their whereabouts and fate, and they should be allowed access to lawyers of their choice. While held, they must be protected from all forms of torture or other ill-treatment and granted all necessary medical care.”

Death row prisoners are generally transferred to solitary confinement shortly before their executions take place.

Under Iranian law, lawyers must receive 48 hours’ notice of their client’s execution, but it is not clear whether these five men have ever been permitted legal representation.

Around 5 March 2012, Iranian Ministry of Intelligence officials informed the men’s families that Iran’s Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty for all five prisoners.

It is not known when the men’s initial trials before a Revolutionary Court took place. Their families have said the men “confessed” to murder, but did so under torture or other ill-treatment.  Iranian courts frequently accept “confessions” extracted under duress as evidence.

Ahwazi Arabs, one of Iran’s many minorities, live mainly in the oil-rich south-western province of Khuzestan.

They often complain that they are marginalized and discriminated against in access to education, employment, adequate housing, political participation and cultural rights. 

Some Ahwazi Arabs – who are mostly Shi’a Muslims like the majority of people in Iran – have formed groups calling for a separate Arab state in the area.

In April 2005, Khuzestan province was the scene of mass demonstrations after reports that Iran’s government planned to disperse Ahwazi Arabs from the area and to attempt to make them to lose their identity as Ahwazi Arabs.

A series of bomb explosions in the city of Ahvaz and at oil installations in late 2005 and early 2006 prompted several waves of mass arbitrary arrests in the region. At least 15 men were later executed based on their alleged involvement in the bombings.

In April 2011, members of the Ahwazi Arab minority organized “Day of Rage” protests across Khuzestan province to mark the sixth anniversary of the earlier unrest.

Afterwards, Amnesty International was given the names of 27 people allegedly killed in clashes with the security forces, including in Ahvaz’s Malashiya neighbourhood.

Ahwazi Arab sources claim there were more casualties, while the authorities claim only three people died.

Around the time of the protests, between March and May 2011, at least four Ahwazi Arab men reportedly died in custody, possibly as a result of torture or other ill-treatment. Others were hospitalized for injuries sustained while in detention.

In early May 2011, the Iranian authorities reportedly executed at least eight Ahwazi Arabs – including Hashem Hamidi, believed to be 16 years old – for their alleged role in the deaths of a law enforcement official and two others during the clashes.

It is not clear if this is the same policeman that the five men were also accused of killing.
In the run-up to Iran’s parliamentary elections in March this year, mass arrests in at least three separate locations in Khuzestan province resulted in the detention of some 50 to 65 people, and a further two deaths in custody were reported.

“Ahwazi Arabs – like everyone else in Iran – have the right to peacefully express their opposition to government policies. Iran’s authorities must review legislation which discriminates against Ahwazi Arabs and other ethic and religious minorities.  Otherwise, the cycle of grievance, protest and unrest will only continue,” said Ann Harrison.

“The authorities must launch independent, impartial investigations into the ongoing reports of torture and other ill-treatment in Iranian prisons and detention centres – whether of Ahwazi Arabs or others – and bring to justice anyone found responsible for abuses.”

Egypt’s Mubarak in critical condition, ‘slipping in, out of consciousness’

Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s health is in critical condition, with reports that he is slipping in and out of consciousness, a security official said on Sunday.

Mubarak was sent to prison on June 2 to begin serving a life sentence after being found guilty of failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him in 2011. Since then, his health has been rapidly deteriorating, according to Egyptian media reports, with rumors of his death spreading rapidly.

“The former president’s health is in decline, but now it’s stable in its deteriorated state,” an Egyptian official told The Associated Press news agency.

Authorities have granted his wife, former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, and the couple’s two daughters-in-law special permission to visit him in Cairo’s Torah prison early on Sunday.

Since his wife’s visit, Mubarak has suffered from an irregular heartbeat and required assistance in breathing, AP reported.

The official told AP that the former president now lives only on liquids and yogurt. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On Wednesday, prison sources told Al Arabiya that Mubarak’s health is “severely deteriorating.” Sources inside Cairo’s Tora said that Mubarak collapsed following visits on Monday by his wife Suzanne, and his sons Alaa and Gamal. His wife reportedly sobbed after she saw him in a prison suit.

Alaa was reportedly moved to a cell near his father, whose personal doctors were not allowed to oversee his health condition.

Egypt’s state news agency said “the severe deterioration in the former president’s condition” prompted prison staff to bring in a medical team from the interior ministry. He was given sedatives and placed under observation, it added.

It said the family visit, the first since his sentencing, caused him to suffer from depression, prompting him to stop eating.

Mubarak’s health is reported to have collapsed since his June 2 conviction. His life sentence saw him transferred immediately to a prison hospital, instead of the military hospital and other facilities where he had been held since his April 2011 arrest.

Mubarak’s two sons Alaa and Gamal, who are still in detention, were acquitted on June 2 of corruption charges, but still face separate charges of insider trading.

Authorities have turned down several requests by Mubarak’s family to transfer the ousted president back to a military facility, the official said.

On Saturday Mubarak’s wife was denied access to the Intensive Care Unit where he was placed, as authorities limit family visitations to one a month.

According to security officials quoted by al-Masry al-Youm daily, Mrs. Mubarak lashed out at wardens for not giving her husband permission to seek treatment outside the prison. “You will be responsible for his death,” she allegedly said.

On Saturday, Egypt’s state run news agency MENA quoted officials as saying that Mubarak is at risk of stroke, quoting a medical team’s report.

Other media reports said that his lawyer Farid al-Deeb informed him that he will soon be transferred back to a military facility in the Cairo suburb of Maadi.

In his last public appearance on June 2, the bedridden Mubarak sat stoned-faced in the courtroom cage. However, officials said that he broke into tears when he learned that he will be transferred to Torah prison. It took officials hours to convince Mubarak to leave the helicopter that ferried him from the courthouse to the prison.

Media reports quoted Mubarak at the time as saying the military council who took over after his ouster had deceived him. “Egypt has sold me. They want me to die here,” he reportedly said.

Mubarak’s health has been the subject of widespread speculation for years. During his trial, he was wheeled into court on a hospital stretcher for each hearing, though his ailment was undefined.