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Raise of self-immolation among Ahwazi Arabs due to discrimination and poverty

An Ahwazi Arab worker named as Ismail Shawerdi (Khanafereh) from Falahieyh city has carried out self-immolation and sets himself afire and died due to unpaid salary for more than six months on Friday the 27th of May 2016.

Reliable source quoted to Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) Mr. Shawerdi is Married and with age of 30 years, sets fire to himself in front of the Falahieyh city’s municipal department, to protest against non-payment of his salary for more than 6 months by the municipality, indicating that the economic pressures was caused him the inability to pay the costs of living life, which decided to set himself on fire.

According to ACHR sources, Ismail and his colleagues’ workers staged a sit-in the front of the department of Falahieyh municipality a week before incident, demanding the municipal officials to pay the overdue salaries, but the official did not pay attention to our demands.

One of the workers from Falahieyh city quoted that “Officials in the Falahieyh municipality deliberately not paying our salaries which we do not receive for more than 6 months, adding that the municipality want to expel Arab workers and replace them with non-Arab settlers.”

This is not the first time that an Ahwazi Arab worker carried out self -immolation to protest against Arab workers’ discrimination where Younis Asakereh 34, married and has two children sets fire on himself on Saturday 14-March-2015 after Mohammareh ‘s municipality forces destroyed his fruit stall and prevent him from selling the fruit where this stall is the only source of sustenance.

Younis death brought global condemnation where Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general illustrated in paragraph 58 of his report during the 17thsessions of the UN General Assembly in New York that “some 1,000 people were arrested on 17 March 2015 for protesting against the plight of an Arab from (Mohammareh) Khorramshahr, Younes Asakere, who set himself on fire in response to repeated harassment by the local authorities regarding the license for his produce stand. He died, allegedly after being denied appropriate medical treatment.

Omid Rashedi Amiri, 36, with two children from Khalafiyeh ( Ramshir in Persian) city that located in south of Ahwaz capital, sets fire on himself on Wednesday 23-Sptember 2015 when he was realized been dismissed from his job with no reason mentioned by the administration of Mr. Morteza Jamali.

Omid Rashidi was manager in corporate office that belongs to Iranian trade ministry where he found corruption in the office while he was holding document that proves his words, but the consequence was negative toward Rashidi where Mr Jamali has been promoted as manager and and Omid Rashidi been sacked from his job.

Reliable source quoted to Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights that Omid’s burn percentage was more than 75 that directly transferred to Taleghani burn special hospital in the capital of Ahwaz. Lack of adequate treatment medicine and staff led to situation where Omid Lost his life on Thursday 24-September 2015.

Mahdi Hadi Mojadam (32) on 16-April-2013 waited for the Governor to leave his office and dowsed himself in petrol before setting himself alight. Security guards took him to the nearby Taleghani hospital. He has died shortly after incident.

Mojadam lives in Char-sad-dastgah in Sepidar, one of the most deprived areas of Ahwaz City. His family has been threatened by the authorities not to disclose the news and his hospital room is under the control of the security services. The authorities fear that news coverage of mojadam self-immolation could prompt civil unrest in Al-Ahwaz.

Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights condemns the Iranian officials’ ill-treatment, discrimination and persecution against Ahwazi Arab workers and calls upon international human rights organizations especially the UN’s labour rights committee to put pressure on Iran to stop its deprivation against Ahwazi Arab workers.

Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights

02-06-2016

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