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Arrest of Ahwazi woman street vendor and appalling women situation in Al-Ahwaz

police officers of the of the Iranian police station numbered “13” with municipal authorities attacked Ahwazi street vendors in the” Abdul Hamid” market of Ahwaz capital for the second day in a row, seized their commodities and prevented the retailers from selling their goods on Monday, the December 25, 2017.

According to reliable source quoted to Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) that on the attack carried out by Iranian police officers, Mrs Majideh Mazraeh one of the street vendor been arrest and took to the custody on Monday, the December 25, 2017.

Mrs Majideh Mazraeh, 38, university educated and resident of the poorest neighbourhood of Ahwaz capital, Rofeish “Lashkarabad”, were detained by Iranian police officers and all her belonging were confiscated just for her resistance against the authorities as the stall is the only source of income for her and her family.

There is no news so far about Mrs Mazraeh up to written of this report.

The Iranian municipality and police forces raided the street vendor in the “Abdul Hamid” market of Ahwaz capital and confiscated their properties on Sunday the December 24, 2017. the municipality agents responsible for organizing attack against Ahwazi street vendors named as “Saman Saeedi” and his deputy “Behnam Alizadeh”.

Saman Saeedi was stabbed by a knife and wounded by one of street vendors in 12th August 2016 due to a violent crackdown on retailers.

Saman Saeedi after being attacked by Ahwazi street vendors.

In similar context, the Iranian police force, along with the municipality agents, attacked Ahwazi street stalls in the 5th “Kargar” street of Golestan neighbourhood of Ahwaz capital, demolishing their kiosks and stalls and confiscating all their equipment on Monday, the December 25, 2017. Nearly 60 stalls many of them owned by women were located on the street near the “Bargh” township, while some were arrested at the time of the attack.

Iranian police attacking Ahwazi street vendors in Golestan neighbourhood.

Due to the increase in migration to the cities of Al-Ahwaz by Persian settlers and the dominance of all its sources of income by non-Arabs, lots of Ahwazi people made selling stalls on the highways or on different streets. The Ahwazi Arab women are not far from this issue. The Centre has received photos of Ahwazi woman that were in both street and highways selling local goods and died in unknown situation.

                                             

Ahwazi woman died in highway                               Ahwazi woman died in street

Iranian’s media has sometimes published reports with different titles of Ahwazi women and their employment and income status but after pressure made to them by intelligence department, been removed from websites.

The Ahwazi Centre knew that Ahwazi women that are in charge of a household are forced to earn for their livelihood from the sale of local goods such as dates, fish, and some other agricultural products. They have to live on dangerous roads or highways that at any moment the death shadow may pass through their bodies. They set from morning to evening in order to bring a money that could be spend on their regular life.

The rising cost of business units, the high cost of livelihood and the lack of any source of income for the Ahwazi women force them to sell locally produced products that brought from different places and sell them at a small stall along the highways and roads.

According to the report published by one the Iranian statistical centre and quickly been removed from the website, the number of Ahwazi women that are in charge of household increased from four percent to twelve percent due to their husbands’ executions or long terms imprisonment. The Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights has downloaded a copy of the removed report.

In the video received by ACHR, the Ahwazi woman speaking about their miseries where she said “she is working from 7 am to 6 pm to collect wasted plastics and cans as well as dried bread to sell it and gain some money to spend on her family. She is arguing that despite of her father illness there is no financial help from government to us”.

In another video that express severe poverty that hitting Ahwazi families and the woman are working as in charge for household and collecting waste plastics and dried bread as shown in the video, said” I have a son and we do not have any kind of support from the government and my son one day finds a job and for several days is jobless. I could not afford my only one son’s marriage. The government is paying to us monthly 400 thousand Iranian Rials (equivalent to 13 US Dollars), and we cannot live with that amount.

Ahwazi women were subject to long and short terms imprisonment in which Mrs Fahimeh Badawi after her arrest on 2005, were released on December 4, 2017. The Ahwazi Centre has documented the arrest of Ahwazi women such as Mrs Fatima Ghorabi on 2nd of august 2016, Ms. Zakiya Neysi on the 17th of May 2016, Ms. Kolsoom Dabat on the 25th of May 2015 and Khadijeh Neisi on 8th of December 2017 and Mrs Basneh Dabat.

The Ahwazi Centre for Human Right has conducted interviews with a number Ahwazi woman in relation to the procedure of caesarean section in Al-Ahwaz.  They talked about their experiences and how they have been deliberately forced to deliver their child by Caesarean section procedure.

The Ahwazi women accuse the Iranian regime of encouraging and guiding the Al-Ahwaz local health centres and hospitals to use of Caesarean deliveries without taking the health issues.

In Khafajiyeh city of Al-Ahwaz, for instance, the midwives who are non-Arabs are advising the Ahwazi women before giving birth to take the option of Caesarean due to being ‘easy’ to deliver without explaining the risk behind it. Although the procedure is much more costly than the natural delivery but it has been advertised as the more effective and healthier.

The story about Ahwazi women don’t end here. As the Iranian regime vicious policies such as home demolitions increases in recent, the Iranian officers are insulting and Ahwazi women without any mercy. Ahwazi women in village of Jalizi were beaten by baton despite of firing tear gas against them by Iranian regime agents. Many of Ahwazi women were hospitalized due to severely injured or find difficulty in breathing.

In another event and after an Ahwazi family home been demolished by Iranian municipality agents, the police officer has attacked Ahwazi woman that were resisting the bulldozers that want to demolish her home. Her face was completely covered with blood due injury made by Iranian police officer.

 

Although the Al-Ahwaz has a large part of Iranian’s income, Ahwazi women do not have any source of income from oil and gas, diverted water, and other sources of this region? Do they have to put their stall along with the shadow of death????

Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights

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