Project SafeCom Inc.
P.O. Box 364
Narrogin
Western Australia 6312
Phone: 041 70 90 130
Family members of refugees arrested, injured in high death toll Iran protests
Media Release
Tuesday May 3 2005 7:30am WST
For immediate Release
No Embargoes
"Amnesty International has revealed that several immediate family members of Iranian refugees who have been held in
Baxter for years, are amongst those arrested and injured during ethnic clashes in the southern province of Khuzestan,"
WA Refugee group Project SafeCom spokesman Jack H Smit said this morning.
"The unrest, a direct result of aggressive intentions and steps by the Iranian government to disperse Ahwazi Arab
Iranians, a distinct ethnic group who have traditionally lived in Khuzestan and its capital Ahwaz - described by media
in the region as a strategy of "ethnic cleansing" has resulted in arrests and detention of hundreds of Ahwazi - and as
now suggested, may well have resulted also in 'hundreds' of deaths."
Several items describing the disturbances and also Amnesty's reaction to the events are reprinted below.
"Amnesty's International Secretariat in London says that the death toll as a result of protests and serious disturbances
two weeks ago is much higher than initially indicated, a contact has relayed to refugee advocates in Australia."
"The contact, Dr Ewen Macmillan, has written (reprinted below) to Australian refugee support organisations that at the
beginning of last week the Amnesty 'body count' stood at 51, but expected "that this is a fraction of those killed and
arrested".
Dr MacMillan also reported that first-line bloodrelatives of Iranian Ahwaz Arabs, currently in detention in the Baxter
Centre near Port Augusta, were amongst those arrested and also injured.
"There are about ten Ahwaz Arab Iranians in the Baxter detention centre, and up till now the Immigration Minister has
denied their refugee status - just two men have been successful in their claims. The men all based their refugee claim
on the fact that they live in the Khuzestan province and because they are of a distinct ethnic origin, rather calling
themselves Arabs than Iranians."
"Several of the men are now also suffering serious mental illness after having been in detention of several years. Most
of the men have claims for assessment before the Minister based on "new country information" or request for the Minister
to personally intervene and grant them humanitarian visas."
"The terrible events in and around Ahwaz should serve as a wake-up call for the Minister, who upon her return from
international travel this week, should urgently attend to their claims, "preferably before they go mad", Project SafeCom
said.
For more information:
• Ms Libby Hogarth, Migration Agent, Adelaide (08) 8232-4100 mobile 0407 112 501
• Jack H Smit, Project SafeCom Inc. phone 0417 090 130
.
Dr Ewen Macmillan's letter (section)
"I have been liaising with Amnesty's International Secretariat, who called me on Sunday. So far we have identified 51
corpses, all but two of them unambiguously Arab from their names and clan affiliations."
"Sixteen of these identifications are confirmed from more than one apparently independent source. These include two
children, whose identities have been confirmed by three apparently independent sources, although I only have their age
group from one source."
"One source has indicated that seven security personnel have been killed, and another that a third Arab child was killed
with his mother. At present, we assume that this is a fraction of those killed and arrested. I expect to compile a list
of detainees for Amnesty in the days ahead."
"Violence is widespread, and has spread from Ahwaz to suburbs such as Mallaashiiya and Kuut Sayyid Saalih, and other
towns including Sarbandar and Mahshuur. Casualties appear to have been particularly high in Hamiidiiya. Other
settlements affected include Khazraj, Kuut Abdallah and Zargaan."
URGENT ACTION Iran: Arbitrary arrest/torture
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/014/2005
18 April 2005
....detained or around the city of Ahvaz, south-western Iran, after protests about the government's supposed plan to
disperse or dilute the country's Arab population. They are not known to have been charged, or to have had access to
legal representation, their families or any medical treatment.
Khuzestan, Iran: Amnesty International calls for an end...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 13/017/2005 (Public)
News Service No: 100
20 April 2005
Khuzestan, Iran: Amnesty International calls for an end to the cycle of violence in Khuzestan and an investigation into
the root causes of recent unrest.....
Amnesty International urges the security forces to conduct its operation in full compliance with relevant international
standards, including the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials,
whose provisions include, inter alia:
(4) that "Law enforcement officials, in carrying out their duty, shall, as far as possible, apply non-violent means
before resorting to the use of force and firearms. They may use force and firearms only if other means remain
ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result";
(9) that "Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defence or defence of others
against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime
involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent
his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event,
intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life"; and that
(11) "Rules and regulations on the use of firearms by law enforcement officials should include guidelines that: ... (e)
Provide for warnings to be given, if appropriate, when firearms are to be discharged".
The Arab community in Iran is around 3% of the total whereas Persians are said to account for around 50%. The Arab
community mainly lives in the Khuzestan region adjoining Iraq. It is the site of much of Iran’s oil resources. Members
of Iran’s Arab community have a long-standing grievance against successive governments that Arabs have been overlooked
in terms of the distribution of resources aimed at social development.
Ahwazi: Human rights groups voice concern over Ahwaz
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO)
Source: British Ahwazi Friendship Society
Amnesty International and the Paris-based Arab Commission for Human Rights (ACHR) have voiced serious concerns over
continuing violence and human rights abuses in Iran's Khuzestan province, following a week of unrest.
Following riots over the government's programme of "ethnic restructuring" in the oil-rich province, the ACHR says it has
received reports of "heavy casualties" from hospitals and called on the government to desist from using deadly force
against unarmed protestors. The commission has also urged the release of all political prisoners and respect for
minority groups' right to free speech.
Amnesty also criticised the regime in Tehran, saying: "The cycle of violence in Khuzestan must end to avoid further loss
of life, injury, arbitrary arrest and damage to private and state property." It also called on the government to resume
water supplies to Arab areas, which had been cut off to punish the Arab population.
Amnesty added: "There have also been reports of excessive use of force, unlawful killing and possibly of extra-judicial
executions of protesters following circulation of reports that up to seven police or security officials had been killed
by demonstrators and that the security forces are now operating a 'shoot-to-kill' policy."
The organisation echoed many of the sentiments expressed by Ahwaz constituency MP Hamid Zangeneh, who suggested that the
government needed to address the root political and economic causes of the unrest, instead of the immediate
circumstances around the weekend's events. On Monday, Zangeneh told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA): "Those who
have failed in performing their duties within the Islamic Republic of Iran's admistrative provincial system should be
identified and duly punished, but more important than that is clarifying the reason why the officials do not heed their
responsibilites properly here and there in the Islamic country."
Ahwazi: International Condemnation of Massacre in Ahwaz
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO)
Source: British Ahwazi Friendship Society
The US State Department has added its voice to the growing condemnation of the treatment of Ahwazi Arabs by the Iranian
authorities.
State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said the US was "very concerned" by the reports of killings and mass
arrests following demonstrations against coercive ethnic "restructuring" of Arabs in Khuzestan at the weekend.
He echoed Amnesty International's call for restraint and respect for human rights and free speech, including the right
to freely assemble and demonstrate.
"In our view, this unrest and these arrests involve the denial of rights of minority groups in Iran," said Mr. Ereli.
"The suppression of minority rights is obviously to be denounced, and it is not the first time that Iran has practiced
this kind of human rights violation, and it's reflected in our human rights report on Iran."
A report published by the State Department in February drew attention to human rights abuses of Ahwazi Arabs, including
the closure of two newspapers and the imprisonment and torture of opposition activists. It also criticised Iran for
failing to clear landmines in Khuzestan, which were left after the Iran-Iraq War.
Ahwazi: Amnesty appeal for Ahwaz prisoners
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO)
Source: British Ahwazi Friendship Society
Amnesty International has launched an appeal on behalf of Ahwazi Arabs arrested during demonstrations against ethnic
cleansing last weekend.
The human rights organisation stated that Kazem Mojadam, Abdoulghader Hamadi, Mojahed Baldi (or Baladi), Salem Beradea,
Nabi Manabi, Hassan Manabi, Sabri Houzedar Sefed and at least 130 others currently in detention were arbitrarily
arrested and are at risk of torture.
AI's urgent appeal stated that "They are not known to have been charged, or to have had access to legal representation,
their families or any medical treatment."
"There are unconfirmed reports that at least 29 people have been killed in the disturbances, and up to 500 injured,"
said Amnesty. "The security forces have reportedly sealed off some areas of the city of Ahvaz, and cut their power
supply, telephone connections and water. They have reportedly used excessive force, possibly including extrajudicial
executions, after demonstrators allegedly killed up to seven police or security officials. Reports allege that they are
now operating a 'shoot-to-kill' policy."
ENDS