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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Despite of Int’l warning land confiscations continues in Al-Ahwaz

The Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has received Governmental document that leaked from the Ministry of Agriculture during the reign of Shah's regime that clearly shows how the Iranian monopolistic companies with the help of the judiciary system confiscated Ahwazi Arab farmers’ land in “Cham Sekhil” (“Kian Pars” Iranian name) village in order to change the Al-Ahwaz Arab demographic.

The document speaks about appeal committee’s vote to resolve disputes in Khuzestan (part of Al-Ahwaz) that it was formed on the 3rd of November 1964 after receiving Ahwazi farmers’ complaint.

“After a complaint made by a number of residents of the “Cham Sekhil” (“Kian Pars” Iranian name) village, who claimed they were “Kian Pars” farmers, and filed a complaint against the “Kian Pars” company, which took over their agricultural lands and prevented them from farming, where the complaint was reviewed by the Khuzestan (part of Al-Ahwaz) Department of Agrarian Reform, in accordance with letter No. 17547 issued on the 28th of October 1964 that their complaints were unjustified, However, the participants protested against the decision, and eventually, the subject under study by a committee of appeal” the document revealed.

In similar context and according to the news and photo received by ACHR shows that hundreds of Ahwazi Arab farmers living in the Jufir area near to Huwyzeh city has been gathered to express their disgust and protest against the confiscation project of their agricultural lands by the subsidiaries of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards branch named as “Khatamolanbiya” to transfer to the Persian settlers, on Friday the 11th of March 2016.

In the framework of this racist project that its implementation’s order was adopted in 1996, was decided that a total of 44 thousand hectares of Jufir area near to Huwyzeh city to be given to three thousand and 200 Persian settlers of so called “war veterans” where farmers of the region are begging the local authorities to appeal to their complaints against the Revolutionary Guards companies involved in these issues.

Alongside the mentioned land confiscation project there are other project like “Khameniei” project that confiscate 550 thousand hectares of Ahwazi Arab land.  The “Khameniei” project is one of the hundreds project that aims to change the demography and geography in Al-Ahwaz that was handed over to the army regime.

The Iranian government confiscate Ahwazi Arab land with other excuses such as “Sugar cane” project that includes hundreds of hectares and as follows:

Amir Kabir sugarcane project:  15000 hectares

Da’bel Khazaei sugarcane project: 15000 hectares

Khomeini sugarcane project: 16000 hectares

Mirza kochak Khan sugarcane project: 15000 hectares

Salman Farsi sugarcane project: 15000 hectares

Farabi sugarcane project: 15000 hectares

Dehkhoda sugarcane project: 15000 hectares

Haft Tapeh sugarcane project: 24000 hectares

While the Ahwazi Arab formers land’s confiscations continue, the Iranian authorities speeding up Ahwazi homes demolition in various part of Al-Ahwaz such as Mash’ali, Al-za’faranyeh, Khobeyneh, Sayahi and Kot Abdullah district in Ahwaz capital. Ahwazi poor people that laboriously built and in one incident an Ahwazi youth named as Morteza Soeidi has been killed in 2013.

The Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns the Ahwazi Arab land confiscation by the Iranian revolutionary guards and judiciary system and according to the document believes that the “Cham Sekhil” lands belong to Ahwazi farmers as well as calls on all United Nations relevant to land rights organizations to put pressure on the Iranian authorities to stop the land confiscation scheme and arbitrary actions for confiscating 44 thousands hectares in Jufir area and 550 thousands as the “Khameniei” project  that all seeking to change the demographic Al-Ahwaz.

Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights

14-03-2016