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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran executes three Arabs
2007-02-16
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 15 – Three men were executed in a prison in the restive city of Ahwaz, south-western Iran, the government-owned news agency Fars reported on Wednesday.
More evidence that under the surface the Mad Mullahs™ are faced with some difficult problems.
The unnamed men were accused of involvement in deadly bombings in oil-rich Khuzestan Province more than a year ago. The province, which borders Iraq, has a large Arab population.
It would look good united with the Shi'a south of Iraq into a single country. They'd get along well enough. Kurds could get the northwest of Iran glued onto the north of Iraq. The Sunni part of Iraq could get glued onto Syria (they'd deserve each other).
The EU called on Tehran earlier this month to refrain from executing the three men.
Listened to the Y'urp-peons about as well as they did in the nuclear negotiations, huh.
In January, authorities in Ahwaz hanged four men facing similar charges. Three other Arab men were salso executed in December for alleged involvement in the attacks. Dissident Arab activists in Khuzestan have accused the government of setting up trump charges against Arab activists fighting against Tehran’s “repressive policies”.

A string of top Iranian officials, including hard-line President Ahmadinejad, have accused Britain of being behind the bombings in Ahwaz. Tehran has repeatedly accused the British secret services of training ethnic Iranian Arabs in southern Iraq and sending them to Iran to carry out sabotage operations. London has repeatedly refused to be a scapegoat denied any involvement in the events in the region.
Posted by:Steve White

#2  Darn. When I saw the headline, I was hoping Tater got his (). In any case, I agree with LH and Steve. This shows how weak the regime really is. Youn never know when another IRG compound gets popped, or another refinery.
Posted by: anymouse   2007-02-16 10:13  

#1  if you add up all the non-farsi population, the regime looks very vulnerable. However the largest minority is the Azeris, and while the Azeris in the Azeri homeland, including the city of Tabriz, are somewhat restive (though not as much so, apparently, as the Baluchis, Ahwazis, or Kurds) the Azeris who live in Teheran are somewhat assimilated, and generally supportive of the regime, and indeed some high level mullahs are Azeris.

They have managed to contain ethnic and other unrest for a long time. PERHAPS the sanctions will change that. We shall see.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2007-02-16 09:31  

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