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Tehran's secret war against its own people
The persecution of Ahwazi Arabs and the takeover of their land has led to accusations of 'ethnic cleansing' NEVER AGAIN is, I fear, a phrase that we may hear again all too soon but too late to warn people, let alone save lives. Under the cover of secrecy the fundamentalist regime in Tehran is waging a sustained, bloody campaign of intimidation and persecution against its Arab minority. These Arabs believe that they are victims of ethnic cleansing by Irans Persian majority. Sixteen Arab rights activists have been sentenced to death, according to reports in the Iranian media. They were found guilty of insurgency in secret trials before revolutionary courts. But most of the defendants were convicted solely on the basis of confessions extracted under torture. Ten are expected to be hanged in a couple of weeks, after the end of Ramadan. Amnesty International says that two of those sentenced to die, Abdolreza Nawaseri and Nazem Bureihi, were in prison when they were alleged to have been involved in bomb attacks. Three others Hamza Sawa- eri, Jafar Sawari and Reisan Sawari say that they were nowhere near the Zergan oilfield the day it was bombed. The death sentences seem designed to silence protests by Irans persecuted ethnic Arabs. They comprise 70 per cent of the population of the south-west province of Khuzestan, known locally as Ahwaz. Many Ahwazis believe that the 16 were framed and that their real crime was campaigning against Tehrans repression and exploitation of their oil-rich homeland. Posted by: Steve White 2006-10-13 |
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