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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran: Reports of Ethnic Violence Suppressed |
| 2005-05-11 |
| Source: Human Rights Watch The Iranian government should immediately release Yusuf Azizi Banitaraf, an Iranian journalist of Arab descent, and allow independent journalists and human rights monitors to report on a government crackdown on protests in the southern province of Khuzistan, Human Rights Watch said today. Plainclothes agents arrested Banitaraf, who has written 20 books on ethnic minorities in Iran, in Tehran on April 25 during a press conference held by the nongovernmental Center for the Defense of Human Rights. During this event, Banitaraf publicly criticized the government's violent suppression of protests by ethnic Iranian-Arabs in Khuzistan's capital, Ahwaz. He spoke out about the killing of local residents during the protests, which began on April 15. According to government critics, at least 50 people were killed by the government's security forces. "The Iranian authorities have again displayed their readiness to silence those who denounce human rights violations," said Joe Stork Washington director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East division. "We have serious allegations the government used excessive lethal force, arbitrary arrests and torture in Khuzistan." Protests erupted in Ahwaz on April 15 following publication of a letter allegedly written by Mohammad Ali Abtahi, an advisor to President Mohammad Khatami, which referred to government plans to implement policies that would reduce the proportion of ethnic Arabs in Khuzistan's population. The province is home to nearly two million Iranians of Arab descent. After security forces tried to disperse the demonstrators and opened fire on them, clashes between protestors and security forces turned violent. The violence spread to other cities and towns in Khuzistan. The next day, Abtahi and other government officials denied the existence of the letter and called it fake. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 The pro Shah forces are, according to my info, much in the minority inside Iran and in the Persian dispora. However, the inheritor of the Shah's wealth have been using some of that wealth to support various anti Mullarky websites and other activities and are fairly well integrated into the anti Mullarky movement. Personally, I think the Shah's descendents should publically renounce any monarcial asperations --- this would permit an even more robust anti Mullarky movement. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-05-11 19:28 |
| #1 I wonder if the Iranians are still celebrating the overthrow of the Shah because his secret police SAVAK did stuff like this. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-05-11 15:32 |