Iranian regime’s crackdown on Ahwazi women
Ahwazi women suffer multiple discrimination in terms of cultural, political and educational position while Ahwazi Arab men are considered as second-class citizens, Ahwazi women are regarded as third class.
As the Ahwazi Arab women demand for their rights and stand against the violation, the Iranian dictator regime perceives them as threats against the security of the regime.
the Iranian intelligence services has arrested an Ahwazi Arab cultural activist named as Ms. Kolsoom Dabat from Susa (Shush) city on Monday the 25th of May 2015. Ms. Kolsoom has graduate master degree in Law from Tehran university.
Ms. Kolsoom was looking for her two arrested brothers named as Ahmad Dabat, 21 years old, that been arrested on 14th of January 2015 and Mohammed Dabat, 18 years old, that been arrested on 29th of March 2015 by Iranian intelligence service and took them to unknown place.
Ms. Dabat was following up the case of her two brothers through the police and court centers and after getting back from court, the intelligence service has arrested her and took her to unknown location.
Ms. Dabat after spending for more than a month in intelligence solitary cells and been subjected to physiological torture, been release with expensive financial bail.
In similar context the Iranian intelligence services has arrested Ms. Zakiya Neysi, 26, an Ahwazi Arab agricultural engineer and environmental activist on Tuesday the 17th of May 2016. Ms. Neysi, was campaigning against Iran’s disastrous and wide-spread environmental destruction such as excessive damming to reduce water flow, diverting rivers to central Iran, destroying ecosystems, drying out of rivers and wetlands.
According to Ms. Neysi’s relative Iranian intelligence service has summoned her father on Wednesday the 18th of May 2016 and asked him to speaks in front of the camera, to deny the arrest, but Zakiya’s father rejected these demands.
Iranian authorities are trying to stop Ahwazi Arab both men and women environmental activists by sending them to jail.
Zakiya Neysi an Ahwazi Arab environmental activist arrested by the Iranian intelligence service due to her participation in environment campaign in Al-Ahwaz. Her arrest comes at a time when Ahwazi environmental groups started their campaign over Karoon’s water transfer.
As Ahwaz region is suffering seriously from long-term drought and extreme water scarcity, the occupying regime sacrificed the lives millions of Ahwazi people by implementing its illegal project in transferring Karoon water to Isfahan and Kerman Provinces at the expense of death of Karoon River. This regime’s biased and shameful action of diverting water from the Ahwaz’s Karoon River to Persian provinces has been carried out while the world health organization has repeatedly placed the Ahwaz region on the top of the most polluted region in the world.
Each year, thousands of Ahwazi lose their lives as a result of this crisis in return the regime by stealing 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.
According to the Iranian recent report shows the increasing number of Ahwazi families under women’s supervision (statistics increased from 4.4 to 11.2).
Iranian regime has raised Ahwazi home demolitions in last years and as pictures show the Ahwazi women are facing Iranian bulldozers with empty hand to stop them from demolition
their home and in many times Ahwazi women been pushed or abused by Iranian officials.
The silence of the international community toward violations of humanitarian rights in Al-Ahwaz serves to encourage the Iranian regime to intensify its oppression and violation against the Ahwazi Arab women and men.
Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights
18-05-2016
