Abu Muslim: My argument that Ahwazi Arabs suffer disproportionately due to their ethnicity is backed up by reports from human rights organisations, the UN and multilateral bodies such as the European Parliament and the European Presidency – even Iranian human rights activists such as Emad Baghi have spoken out against the treatment of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran. He said that “while the people of Khuzestan sit on Iran’s most valuable resources, they are amongst the poorest in the country” and spoke of how “this kind of ethnic issue is rooted in the poverty, socio-economic deprivation and accumulated repressed complexes.” Amnesty International has repeatedly stated that Ahwazi Arabs are discriminated against and persecuted – http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT60/011/2006/en/ACT600112006en.html
Your argument that the regime does not persecute on the basis of ethnicity is based on your own biased anecdotes – and I have no way of knowing whether you are telling the truth. Ultimately, an independent observer of this debate will look at the objective evidence contained in the reports I mentioned, not the trading of accusations we’ve seen here. The weight of evidence backs my argument.
Have the monarchist and republican “opposition” groups contacted Ahwazi Arabs? I know for a fact that international human rights groups such as Amnesty International have been lobbied intensively by these groups to censor all mention of the persecution of Arabs. I know for a fact that bodies such as the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation routinely come under fire from these groups whenever they campaign for Ahwazi Arab rights activists who face torture and execution. I constantly receive abusive and threatening emails and phone calls from these so-called opponents of the regime. The aggressive and hysterical reaction to the Ahwazi Arab cause is the reason why you will find that monarchist and republican parties, which are almost exclusively based in the US, are devoid of Arabs. Not one Arab rallies to their cause because they will never raise campaign against the land confiscation, mass execution and cultural repression that Ahwazi Arabs are subjected to.
I note that you disagree with the premise of my argument – that Ahwazi Arabs suffer persecution. OK, that’s your opinion. But you then go on to portray any Ahwazi Arab who agrees with me as a liar, “sold themselves to greedy colonialist powers for materialistic gains”, “no different than mullahs who are running Iran right now.” If you malign and libel Ahwazi Arab activists in this way, is it any wonder that they call you chauvinistic? When you call them puppets of foreign powers (with absolutely no proof to back your assertions), are you not as bad as the current regime?
The future of Iran turns on what the Ahwazi Arabs do because they are located in the oil-rich region that serves as the motor of the Iranian economy. That’s why Ahwazi Arabs are facing a violent campaign of ethnic cleansing.
