FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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January 4, 2008
LCHR denounces executions, torture of Arab-Iranians
The Leadership Council for Human Rights condemns the November 2007 execution of opposition activist Abdulreza Sanawati, as well as the recent deaths under torture of several other Arab-Iranians, and calls on the Iranian government to halt its brutal crackdown on Ahwazi Arabs protesting against ethnic discrimination and persecution.
According to reports, Mr. Sanawati and other members of the Ahwazi Arab minority had been charged with terrorism and mohareb (enmity with God) for suspected involvement in bomb explosions in Khuzestan province in 2005. The explosions followed protests against anti-Arab discrimination and reportedly resulted in the arrests of hundreds of individuals. However, leading members of the international community have denounced as baseless the charges against Mr. Sanawati and his Ahwazi brethren, and deemed the subsequent trials against them unjust and unfair.
Mr. Sanawati’s execution comes as a growing number of Ahwazis find themselves on death row. In late November 2007, Dr. Karim Abdian of the Ahwazi Human Rights Organization (AHRO) informed LCHR that seven more Ahwazis are at risk of imminent execution.
Despite pleas from a team of independent experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, at least 19 Ahwazi political and human rights activists have been executed in the past year.
Meanwhile, several Ahwazi activists detained after a peaceful march in October 2007 have now died under torture, according to new reports confirmed by AHRO. The group received information that gruesome techniques, including the removal of fingers, nails and eyes, were used on the victims. The government reportedly ordered the families of the victims to bury them in remote, unmarked burial grounds typically used for animals.
Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), Co-Chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, recently spoke out on the matter. “The Iranian regime’s treatment of ethnic and religious minorities is abysmal,” Rep. Wolf said. “I am deeply concerned about recent reports of targeted persecution of Ahwazi Arabs, including extreme methods such as execution. I call on the Iranian government to treat all minority groups with respect and humanness.”
LCHR stands with Rep. Wolf, AHRO and the international human rights community in denouncing Tehran’s oppression of Ahwazis, as well as other non-Persian groups.
For further information, and to support AHRO’s urgent appeals to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, please visit www.ahwazstudies.org and http://www.ahwaz.org.uk/2008/01/iran-condemned-for-torturing-arab.html.
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