Details of the mass arrests in Khuzestan; the goal is to "stir up terror" among Iranian Arab citizens
In recent days, there have been reports of the arrest of at least 14 Sunni citizens living in Mahshahr and their transfer to unknown locations. Over the past few days, Iranian media have reported the arrest of at least 14 Sunni citizens living in Mahshahr by security forces in a raid and their transfer to unknown locations; arrests that, according to human rights activist Karim Daheimi, were aimed at creating terror and repression.
Human rights activist Karim Daheimi told VOA on Tuesday, June 4, that every year, before Eid al-Fitr, a number of Arab Iranian citizens and civil society activists are arrested on a large scale. In previous years, these arrests were made on charges of holding Sunni-style prayers outside the designated location by the regime. But this year, the reason for this is that some of them held celebrations, stampedes, and chanted in praise of the resistance of the people of Mahshahr and the resistance of the people in November of last year.
According to this human rights activist, following the widespread arrests of citizens in various cities of Khuzestan, including Shushtar, Mahshahr, Susangerd, and Ahvaz, the authorities of the Islamic Republic have condemned these individuals for raising the flag of the "Ahwaz Movement" and images have been published on social networks in this regard, with no precise information about their location and time; images that, according to Mr. Daheimi, the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran have repeatedly published in the past to suppress Arab Iranian citizens in an attempt to create fear and terror.
Mr. Daheimi announced the arrests that took place in the past few days, involving more than 60 people in Shushtar city, Mahshahr cities, Susangerd, Ahvaz, and some other cities in Khuzestan. He said that despite referring to the news headquarters and the Revolutionary Court in Shushtar and Mahshahr, the families of the detainees have not been able to obtain accurate information about the place of arrest or the charges against the detainees, and they are unaware of the fate of their children.
According to this human rights activist, a number of citizens of Shushtar city, namely Hakim Kaabi, Ali Badawi, Mohammad Badawi, Hamid Zoghaibi, Ayub Tarafi, Amer Rahimeh, Hamid Aghili (Aghili), and Mustafa Aghili (Aghili), were arrested by security forces on Thursday, June 28, and another group of citizens in the Malashiya area of southern Ahvaz city, namely Ibrahim Silawi, Qasem Silawi, Khaled Silawi, Jafar Silawi, Faisal Silawi, Ayub Kharraji, Yousef Khazraji, Jamil Silawi, Khalil Silawi, Ibrahim Kurshawi, Mohammad Kurshawit, Abdulkarim Khosraji, Mohammad Sharifi, Kazem Abbas Darjal, Riad Zuhairi, Sajjad Al-Hai, and Hussein Baldi, were arrested on June 29 by security forces. He said that these names were only some of the arrests made in the past few days.
Mr. Daheimi also announced the identities of six of the at least 14 Sunni citizens living in Mahshahr who were arrested on Wednesday, June 27, under various pretexts in a raid by the city's security forces and transferred to unknown locations: Hessam Gargholi, Mehdi Shaikhani, Abdul Rahman Rashidi, Hussein Shamani Tamimi, Jamal Nisi, and Karim Dehlawi, and said that there is no information yet about the identities of the other detainees.
This human rights activist told VOA that by filing cases and accusing Iranian Arab activists, the authorities of the Islamic Republic want to suppress any peaceful activity that goes against the system and silence the voices of protesters. Unfortunately, this is a practice that Iranian Arab citizens have been suffering from for several years.
Source: Voice of America
