Al-Ahwaz: the angry crowds rise up against the government in Tehran
Hundreds of Ahwazi Arab people came out as angry crowds in mass
demonstrations in the streets of the region against the Iranian state policy, which was accused of racism, hostility and negligence to Arabs in Al-Ahwaz. The Ahwazi Arab were demonstrating for several days that from 10-15 February 2015 in front of the Ahwazi governor.
Informed sources said that Hundreds of Ahwazi participated in the demonstrations, and came from several regions and cities, after rising in air contamination and drying rivers and the construction of dams and the spread of poverty and unemployment in Ahwaz where the demonstrators by putting face mask marched in Ahwaz main street and hold banners that were written in Arabic and Farsi, like “ clean air is our basic right”, “You taken Gas with you, You taken Oil with you but you forgot to take dust/soil with you”, “ Ahwaz is a capital of most polluted city in the world, and Can anybody HELP us”.
Ahwazi human right activist has reported names of demonstrators who has been arrested by Iranian authorities on 14-15 February and they are as follows:
1) Emad Abyat (picture)
2) Abdullah Kaabi, 19 years old
3) Khalid Mahawi, 21 years old
4) Ahmad Shahin Tamimi, 34 years old.
The peaceful demonstrator were faced with Iranian forces that forcibly break up the demonstration and closure of bridge that lead to Ahwaz Main Street in order protestors not increased.
Since beginning of this year, severe toxic dust storm has swept all over Al-Ahwaz and pollution has exceeded 70 times the standard health level where visibility reduced to less that hundred meters and there are reports confirming of surge in death toll among Ahwazis who has respiratory illnesses and also car accident.
Each year, thousands of Ahwazi lose their lives as a result of water diversion, in return the government by diverting the water from its main course and pumping it to central Persian regions has exacerbated the crisis deliberately in line with fulfilling its inhuman ethnic cleansing policies against innocent Ahwazi Arab.
The Iranian authority’s biased and shameful action of diverting water from the Ahwazi’s Rivers to the Isfahan, Yazd, Qom and Kerman provinces has been carried out while the world health organization has repeatedly for the fourth times placed the Ahwaz region on the top of the most polluted region in the world.
In Al-Ahwaz various companies such as oil and gas, iron and steel, sugar cane reside and in addition to the dried Hur Althem wetland under the pretext of drilling for oil increased the pollution limit, which is threatening the future of the Ahwaz Arab people.
Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights condemns the arrest and use of force by Iranian government against peaceful demonstrators who were merely demanding their basic rights such as clean air and water and the Centre calls upon all human rights organizations and defenders especially Mr. Ahmad Shaheed, United Nation special rapporteur on Iran to put pressure on Iranian authorities to stop its human rights violations against innocent Ahwazi Arabs.
Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights
15-02-2015
