IRAN: Outside the spotlight, Arab uprising smolders in country's southwest

As democratic movements rock the Middle East, a little-reported uprising in southwest Iran has largely escaped international attention, primarily due to the efforts of Iranian officials.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has for weeks cracked down on protesters in Ahvaz, the capital of the mostly ethnic Arab Khuzestan province, which has become a scene of ongoing unrest.

The violence began when the Iranian security apparatus, along with, as one Arab Iranian activist reported, paramilitary Basiji forces, suppressed an April 15 "Day of Rage" demonstration against the hard-line regime of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Similar to uprisings throughout the Arab world, the "Day of Rage" was organized through social network websites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

The "Day of Rage" protest, which spread from Ahvaz to other cities in Khuzestan such as Abadan, Khorramshahr, Hamidieh, Mahshahr and Shadegan, commemorated of the Bloody Friday demonstration that took place on April 15, 2005, and led to the death of 20 Arab Iranians and the arrest of 250 others. 

Iranian human rights activists have reported that in the last two weeks security personnel attacked peaceful protesters with live ammunition. Authorities have provided very little information on the situation following the crackdown. Little is known about the dead or injured since the protests began in mid-April. State news agencies have reported that "armed insurgents" were behind the killing of three people, including one officer. 

“Iran has made it impossible to confirm the scale of the deadly violence against protesters in Khuzestan province, making transparent and independent investigations into alleged killings and arrests there absolutely essential,”  Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Witnesses told rights advocates that raids began in Ahvaz began on April 14, a day before the protest.

On April 21, state television reported the arrest of eight members of the “Arab Peoples Group." Iranian authorities attribute the unrest in the southwest region to what they call "Arab separatist groups." 

"Daughter of Ahvaz," a female activist, told the website of Al Arabiya that 15 Arab Iranians have died in the region. 

The ethnic Arab Iranian population in the area has complained that the city remains severely underdeveloped despite being rich in natural gas and oil. Protesters also believe that the Persian and Azeri majority nation has intensified long-standing discriminatory policies toward Arabs and other ethnic minorities.

-- Roula Hajjar in Beirut

 Photo: An image from protests in southwestern Iran in mid-April. Credit: Al-Arabiya television

Comments

[alanmirs]

Look at the map to see were Ahwas, Khoramshahr, and Abadan is
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

[alanmirs]

Practice of prejudice, hatred, deception, and invert the truth, has been propaganda apparatus to validate injustice in the region
The Arabs are in Arabian Peninsula, the Arab speaking nations lost their native tongue after they became Muslims, many other Muslim nations kept their native tongue as Persians, Tajik, Turk, Urdu,
British separated parts of Persia from the mother land but for Khuzestan they tried to separate part of it as Khoramshahr with no success as the natives are some Arab speaking Iranians and the rest especially in Ahwaz are Persian speaking Iranians

[michael]

what is the matter with our CIA and Military that they can't move necessary equipment to the Iranians who are willing to stand up to the idiot women haters.

[fereydoun]

It is true that most of governments in the Middle East and all developing countries' oil producing and exporting countries are undemocratic.However,U.S. policy in the region is quite controvercial.United States supports regimes in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain that deprive their ceitizens from the very basic human rights,while rejects and fight others which are against U.S. policies.Such double standard policies by the U.S. adminstration put the true intention of Washington in doubts.

[Nouri BenSousa]

Thank you very much for this report .i wish to continue coverage of the people of Ahwaz defenseless. .
Thank you
Nouri
open and saw this links Roula

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhhf1BWcD2c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG9txjDXqGA