حزب مردم بلوچستان  Balochistan People’s Party  بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل

Journalist to be executed

By Peter Tatchell ; http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk

March 10, 2008 10:00 PM

An Iranian Baluch journalist and civil rights campaigner, Yaghub Mehrnehad, aged 28, has been sentenced to death for an unknown offence, after torture and an unfair trial conducted behind closed doors, according to Amnesty International.

His execution is imminent. He is likely to be hanged in public, using the barbaric slow strangulation method favoured by the Tehran regime. It is deliberately designed to maximise the pain and prolong the suffering of the victim.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) have condemned the death sentence.

Mehrnehad is a journalist for the reformist newspaper, Mardomsalari (Democracy), and president of Sedaye Edalat (Voice of Justice), a lawful, government-registered cultural association in Iranian-occupied Baluchistan.

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples' Organisation (UNPO), which represents oppressed minority nationalities worldwide, is also appealing to Tehran to spare Mehrnehad's life.

On February 19, the Iranian judicial authorities announced that Mehrnehad had been sentenced to death for belonging to the armed Jondollah organisation, also known as the Iranian Peoples' Resistance Movement. No evidence has been offered to substantiate this allegation. On the contrary, all Mehrnehad's activities have been lawful and peaceful.

His appeal against conviction has been fast-tracked, in violation of Iranian law, to prevent him from challenging what human rights organisations say is a grave miscarriage of justice.

Mehrnehad was arrested on May 6 last year, along with other members of his association, after they attended a meeting in the Provincial Office of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which the governor of the city of Zahedan also reportedly attended. The other men were later released.

The exact reasons for Mehrnehad's arrest are not known, although some Iranian press reports in July 2007 state that a man identified as Ya'qub M had been detained on suspicion of "aiding Abdolmalek Rigi", the head of the Baluchistan nationalist organisation, Jondallah, which is resisting Tehran's rule over Baluch territory.

In the absence of any evidence for such claims, we can only assume that what prompted the Tehran authorities to act against Mehrnehad was his criticism of the Tehran government for neglecting Sistan and Baluchistan province, his campaigning for the recognition of the Baluchi language, his work with the Islamic Human Rights Commission, a national non-government organisation, and his plan to establish a human rights committee in Baluchistan. These not illegal or violent activities. They do not justify any punishment, let alone execution.

The whole case has been an abuse of Iranian law from the outset. It was not until five months after his arrest that Mehrnehad was allowed visits by his lawyer and family. They reported that he had been severely tortured, had lost about 15kg in weight and was unable to keep his balance and walk properly. He is very ill and needs urgent medical treatment.

Prior to his trial last year, Mr Mehrnehad had received no information about the offence he had allegedly committed or the date or circumstances of his trial. He was tried in the absence of a lawyer and without his family being informed of the hearing.

This imminent execution of a courageous journalist and human rights activist has received scant coverage in the western media. There was a brief report in the New York Times, but nothing in the Guardian or Observer.

Mehrnehad's imminent hanging is the latest in a wave of executions of Baluch people. Human rights campaigners report executions almost every week in Baluchistan. They say there has been a marked rise in the number of Baluch people executed in recent years, often on trumped up charges.

In an interview with the Iranian newspaper, Ayyaran on 17 March 2007, parliamentarian Hossein Ali Shahryari said more than 700 people were under sentence of death in jails in Sistan and Baluchistan province, which is just one of Iran's many provinces.

In 2007, at least 312 people were officially reported to have been executed in Iran,
according to Amnesty International. The true figure is likely to be much higher, as some hangings take place in secret and are not recorded in the official figures.

A Facebook support group has been set up to coordinate efforts to save Mehrnehad's life.

Amnesty International is urging protests to the Iranian authorities, especially to the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei. He can be contacted via The Office of the Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: info@leader.ir

Mehrnehad belongs to the Baluch minority, who live in the south-east of the country in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan. Victims of systemic racial and ethnic discrimination by the Persian supremacist ayatollahs, they also suffer religious tyranny. Most Baluchs are Sunni Muslims and are therefore targeted for repression by the Shia Muslim dominated Islamist state in Tehran.

Amnesty International has documented the extreme political, economic, cultural and ethnic oppression of the Baluch people.

The death sentence on Mehrnehad also fits a pattern of persecution by the Tehran regime of journalists, trade union leaders, women's rights activists, human rights defenders and members of Iran's religious and ethnic minorities.

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Iranian Baluch boys facing Torture & Execution

URGENT CALL
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/047/2008

12 March 2008

UA 68/08 Fear of torture     IRAN

 

Ebrahim Mehrnahad (m), aged 16

Fazlorahman Jahras (m), aged about 16

Abdollah Salarzahi, (m), leading member, Voice of Justice Young People’s Society (VJYPS) Asadollah Shahbaksh, (m) student, VJYPS member

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Presentation of Baluch case in The United States Congress

A Presentation Before The United States Congress, Thursday March 13, 2008.

By Dr. M. HOSSEINBOR

A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia and Author of Iran and Its Nationalities: The Case of Baluch Nationalism, Pakistani Adab Publications, 2000.

Oppression of Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Iran: The Case of  Baluch and Baluchistan

It is a great honor to appear before you to present the case of the Iranian Baluch, one of the most persecuted, oppressed, and neglected peoples of the Middle East. On behalf of over 5 million Baluch people of Iran, I would like to thank the United States Congress, the US Government, the Leadership Council for Human Rights and all those who helped organize this hearing.

Baluch and Baluchistan: A historical Perspective

Iran is a heterogeneous state comprised of six distinct nationalities including Arabs, Baluch, Kurds, Persians, Turks, and Turkmens. Although there are no accurate data as to the population of Iran’s various national groups, the recent scholarly literature tends to agree that non-Persians are a majority comprising at least 55 percent of Iran’s estimated population of 60 millions. The five non-Persian nationalities have one other important feature in common: They live along the state’s international borders, which cut across their ethnic homelands, thus dividing them between two or three states.

Divided among Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, Baluchistan-meaning the Baluch homeland- covers more than 240,000 square miles with a coastline stretching 1000 miles from the Strait of Hormuz to Karachi in Pakistan. Under the British Empire, the land was divided into three parts. The Goldsmid Line drawn in 1871 and demarcated in 1896 gave Western Baluchistan to Persia, while retaining the larger eastern part for British India. The Durand Line, drawn also by the British in 1894, further divided Baluchistan between the British India and Afghanistan, assigning to the latter a portion of Northern Baluchistan.

The Iranian Baluchistan was invaded and incorporated into Iran by Reza Shah, the founder of Pahlavi Dynasty, in 1928. As the dominant power in the region at the time, the British supported Reza Shah’s annexation of Baluchistan in order to strengthen Iran as buffer state against Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Today, Iranian Baluchistan is divided into three parts to expedite its integration and assimilation into Iran. The largest part constitutes the “Province of Seistan and Baluchistan”. It covers more than 181,578 square kilometers, which is in itself the largest province in Iran. The second part of Iranian Baluchistan is officially known as the Province of Hormuzgan for its location on the Strait of Hormuz. The third and northern part of Iranian Baluchistan is included in the neighboring Persian-speaking Provinces of Kerman and Khorasan. All three parts combined cover around 280,000 square kilometers.

In addition to their ancestral homeland Baluchistan, Baluch speak their own language called Baluchi, an ancient Indo-European language, have their distinct culture, share a common history, and adhere to Sunni Islam while Persians follow Shi’ate Islam, the official state religion of the ruling clerics. As a result, Baluch have been subject of constant ethnic, religious, cultural, and economic discrimination and political and military repression ever since their forceful incorporation into Iran in 1928. In turn, the Baluch have been striving to preserve their language and culture and to secure a degree of self-rule within a secular, democratic, and federal Iran.

The Human Rights Violations and Discrimination against the Baluch and Sunnis

Both Iranian constitutions of 1906 and 1979 failed to recognize the non-Persian national groups or to protect their political and cultural self-rule in their own respective homelands. Consequently, the Baluch and other non-Persian groups have been marginalized and subjected under both monarchial and clerical regimes to blatant discrimination in all spheres of their daily lives. The discrimination is institutionalized and systematic and is geared to the ongoing state policies of Persianization of non-Persian nationalities and conversion of Sunnis, Baha’is, and other religious minorities to shi’ism.

Political Discrimination and Oppression

The core policy of the Persian –dominated governments, both clerical and monarchial, has been to forcefully assimilate or Persianize Baluch and other non-Persian nationalities. In this context, the current clerical regime like its predecessor, refers to all six nationalities comprising Iran- namely, Arabs, Baluch, Kurds, Persians, Turks, and Turkmen’s- as constituting a single nation called Millat-e Iran or the “the nation of Iran”. As embodied, interpreted, and implemented in the first Iranian Constitution of 1906 as well as in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of 1979, the concept of “Millat-e Iran” is a manifestation of Persian nationalism which is equated with Iranian nationalism.

Aside from its theocratic color and content, “the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran” hardly differs from the Constitution of 1906 in respect to preserving the unitary state system in the country. Like its predecessor, the new constitution ruled out the question of autonomy or any other form of recognition of national, cultural, and religious rights of non-Persian nationalities. It declared in Article 12 that “the official religion of Iran is Islam and the Twelve Ja’fari School of Thought and this principle shall remain eternally immutable”. Similarly, Article 15 recognized Persian as the official state language, while prohibiting the use of non-Persian languages in schools, offices, or for any other official use in their respective homelands.

Moreover, the rights of Baluch and Iranian Sunnis in general were further restricted by the provision of Article 115, which excluded Sunnis from holding the office of the Presidency of the Republic, thus reducing Baluch and Sunnis to the status of second-class citizens. In addition, the provision of Vilayat-e Faghih (governance of religious jurist) in Article 5 had no base in the tenets of   the Sunni branch of Islam and as such it was not acceptable to Sunnis. According to Article 5, the Valii-e Faghih or governing jurist, who is not elected, is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and has ultimate authority over all the three branches of the government. As the non-elected supreme leader, he is empowered to dismiss the elected president, to dissolve the parliament, and to remove at will the supposedly independent judicial authorities. Obviously, the concentration of such broad and unchecked powers in the hands of one unelected individual has been strongly opposed by Baluch and other national groups as well as by secular opposition.

In addition, the Baluch have been totally excluded from all the decision-making positions at local, provincial, and central government levels. Almost all provincial governors, city mayors, and the heads of all provincial departments are non- Baluch appointed by the central government. The Baluch and Sunnis were never represented in decision making positions in central government. No Baluch or Sunni ever served as a minister of cabinet or as an ambassador. Even the number of the Baluch in the provincial administration is hardly more than five percent of the total civil servants.  

Similarly, the Baluch-speaking areas have been arbitrarily divided administratively into three parts to expedite the Baluch assimilation in accordance with the clerical government’s Persianisation and Shiazation policies as mentioned earlier. This policy towards the Baluch is in no way distinct or different from that pursued toward other non-Persian national groups including Arabs, Kurds, Turks, and Turkmen’s. The differences, if any, are merely in degree not in kind.  Although all these national groups possess historically defined geographic homelands, none has been constituted or recognized as a separate administrative unit let alone as a self-autonomous province. Each ethnic region or homeland has been arbitrarily divided into several parts and incorporated in different provinces at different times. Like Baluchistan, Kurdistan and Azerbaijan have been arbitrarily divided into several parts to facilitate their Persianization and to prevent any threat that may arise if Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, or Baluchistan were reconstituted to incorporate all parts of their respective historical homelands.

Cultural Discrimination

The use of Baluchi language, Baluchi schools, and Baluchi publications have been strictly prohibited even in their own homeland Baluchistan. That is also the case with other non-Persian languages. Only Persian history is taught as “Iranian’ history, never the history of Baluch or other national groups. No cultural institutions or activities are tolerated among the Baluch or other non-Persians. Even the Iranian census data do not reflect the nature of its ethnic heterogeneity. Instead, it uses religious designation to emphasize Muslim homogeneity and to distort the multi-ethnic nature of the country.

Among many instances of cultural oppression against the Baluch was the arrest of six members of the Voice of Justice of the Young People’s Society, a Baluch cultural association registered under Iranian law, in early May 2007. This NGO was primarily involved in organizing concerts, arts exhibitions, and educational courses for young Baluch. Subsequently, the head of the organization, Mr. Ya’qub Mehrnehad, a student, Journalist and civil activist, was tried in secret and convicted to death for an unknown offence in early February 2008. He has allegedly been tortured. He is currently on death row without access to his family members or a lawyer. His brother, Ibrahim Mehrnehad, is also in jail and has been also denied access to his family or to a lawyer.

Economic Discrimination

Iranian Baluchistan is one of the poorest, least developed, and neglected provinces in Iran. According to the UN Common Country Assessment for Iran ( www.undp.org.ir/reports/npd/CCA.pdf ), Baluchistan has the worst indicators among Iranian provinces for life expectancy, school enrollment, adult literacy, infant mortality, and access to drinking water and sanitation. All major economic activities are concentrated in central Iran where the dominant Persians live. Although Baluchistan is known to be rich in minerals including gas, oil, gold, and marine resources, the province is characterized as the “forgotten land”, implying a prolonged economic and social neglect. In spite of the province’s vast resources, there are no major industries in Baluchistan, the Baluch have no control over their resources, and have no say in running Baluchistan’s economy. Literally speaking, the land is being looted by Baluchistan’s new colonial masters in Iran and Pakistan.

The Baluch’s lack of control over their resources is the main cause of underdevelopment of Baluchistan. As a result, there is a growing  economic and social gap between Baluch and Persian-dominated regions of Iran, a fact that makes Iran a prime example of uneven development in the world. Under both monarchial and clerical governments, most of the development expenditures in the province were and are geared towards the expansion of the military-related infrastructure such as roads, military bases, and facilities serving Persian bureaucrats and settlers, thus hardly benefiting the Baluch masses. In addition, as far as non-military projects are concerned, they are planned behind closed doors in Tehran, due to the highly centralized nature of economic planning in Iran, and implemented through the Persian-controlled provincial bureaucracy. The needs and wants of the Baluch population are not taken into consideration because the Baluch are not represented in economic and political decisions at the provincial level, let alone at the national level.

Religious Discrimination

Overwhelming majority of the Baluch adhere to Sunni school of Islam as are Kurds, Turkmens, people of Talesh region in the Gilan Province along the Caspian Sea,  Persian-speaking regions of Khorasan Province bordering Afghanistan, and the population of southern coasts and islands in the Persian Gulf. Together, the Iranian Sunnis constitute more than a quarter of Iran’s estimated population of 60 millions. In spite of its claim to the leadership of the Islamic world, the Islamic Republic of Iran has subjected its Sunni population to religious discrimination and, in some instances, to forceful conversion to Shi’ism. As a matter of fact, the Sunnis have not been allowed to build a mosque in Tehran where several million Sunnis live.  This is in spite of the clerical regime’s claim for leadership of the Islamic world.  If fellow Muslims are treated so harshly by the Islamic Republic, the fate of Baha’is and other non-Muslim religious minorities should be of great concern to international community.

Numerous Sunni clerics from Baluchistan, Kurdistan, Turkmen Sahra and other Sunni regions have been arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and assassinated. As documented by Amnesty International in its report cited above, “A number of Baluchis, including Sunni clerics, have been killed in suspicious circumstances both in Iran and Abroad. Similar suspicious deaths of members of other religious minorities or of those opposed to the Iranian authorities point to a pattern of extrajudicial executions by the Iranian authorities”.  The said report names only few of the victims including moulavi (religious title used by Sunni clerics) Abdolmalek Molaazadeh, Moulavi Abdolnasser Jamshid Zahi, Moulavi Ahmad Sayyad, and Moulavi Aman Naroui. The author personally knew Moulavi Habibullah Hosseinbor who was summoned to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence in 1984 when he disappeared. Since then, no one ever heard from him and it is believed that he died under torture. Hundreds if not thousands   members of the opposition groups and minorities have suffered a similar fate.

A practice widely used to discriminate against Baluch and other minorities is Gozinesh meaning selection, an ideological test requiring applicants to universities and candidates for government jobs to demonstrate allegiance to Shia Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran including the concept of Vilayat-e Faghih (Governance of Relious Jurist), a concept not adhered to by Sunnis. This practice has been used to exclude Baluch from admission to universities or employment by government ever since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. As observed by Amnesty International in its report titled Iran: Human Right Abuses Against the Baluchi Minority, dated September 17, 2007, “ In law and practice, this process (i.e. Gozinesh) impairs- on grounds of political opinion, previous political affiliation or support or religious affiliation-equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation for all those who seek employment in the public and parastatal sector ( such as the bonyads) and, reportedly, in some instances in parts of private sector.”

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Iranian government ignoring Minefields in Minorities’ area

Iranian Minorities’ Human Right Organisation (IMHRO)

Ref.IMHRO.09 ; 2008-03-18

Land Mine is deadly silent killer left after wars. Sustainable chemical elements used in land mines are very toxic and dangerous. Mine field deeply effecting local economy. Poultry, Animal husbandry and farming are among most effected industries. Victims usually are women, children, farmers and animals. Every year at least 1000 people became victim of land mine in Iran.

Large scale of Iranian Minorities’ land had covered by minefields.1980-1988 conflict with Iraq left at least 20 million mines in west of Iran. At least area in size of 24 thousand square kilometres of minorities’ lands in Iran had covered by mine fields.1

Iranian government did not sign Ottawa treaty yet, which declares” Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction”2. 158 country singed Ottawa treaty.

In last decade Iranian government not only did not demined effected area, but also planted more mines in area of Azerbaijan, Turkman Sahra and Baluchistan.

The problem is not only mines, it is also explosive remnants of war (ERW) specially unexploded ordnance or UXO, left behind after war or military maneuver of Iranian army, which it is more deadly as they are attracted by children.

Ahwaz

Arab area of South west of Iran was in front side of 8 year war between Iran and Iraq. Both Iraqi and Iranian army plant huge mine field in the area. Mohammareh, Shat al Arab Bank, Abadan, many border side villages are heavily affected area.

Reza Washahi a researchers on minorities in Iran told IMHRO that government is not care at all about mine fields in Ahwaz, the only place that they started demining it in recent years, was huge oil reserves of Azadegan, which recently discovered and it is clearly shows Iranian government is just looking for it’s own economic benefit and totally ignoring Ahwazi Arab’s basic right.3

Kurdistan

Kurdish area is hugely affected by mine fields. Most area of Kurdistan becomes mine field by Iranian government in aim to fight Kurdish gorilla fighters. Main victims are children, shepherds and farmers. Many mines moved by rain and came down from highland to village’s area. Ghasreh Shirin, Mehran, Dehloran, Sumar, Dashteh Zahab, Azgaleh, Nousood, Baneh, Sardasht, Asbeh Shiler and Mariwan cities are among more highly affected area by minefields.

Baluchistan

Since 2000 government started to plant land mines to stop Baluchi armed groups. Minefields are plant in rural area and taking huge casualties from local people. News of casualties blocked by Iranian government. Bodies of victims always left on road to frightening Baluchi armed groups.

Mine field are in area between Baluchistan and Kerman area in scale of 300 hundred square kilometres, in area of Dowmag and Sare Jangal which are inhabited by Ghanbar Zehi and shah Bakhsh tribes. Also Narmashir between Zahedan and Bam, Pir Sooran near Zahedan, Rabot near the tri-border junction with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Mirjaneh near the border with Pakistan and Koch.4

Azerbaijan

According to some news Iranian government started planting land mines along turkey and Azerbaijan republic borders. Some mine field situated along Aras River.

Turkman Sahra

Huge mine field started by 2006. Ammunition left by army manoeuvre often making casualty. Villagers of Boghaz, chapar ghoveimeh and ghareh Makher were affected by ammunition left after military manoeuvre.

Background

One of the big issues for minorities in Iran who live along the border is huge mine fields around them. By passing more than 20 years of end of war, Iranian government always delay the demining and increasing minefields, with excuse of security.

Iran is one of the land mine producers. Recently reported that land mine made in Iran found in Afghanistan5, which Afghanistan is one of the biggest victims of mine fields in the world.

In November 2006 the UN group monitoring the arms embargo on Somalia reported shipments of arms including landmines from Iran to combatants in Somalia in violation of the arms embargo on the country. The November report states that on 25 July 2006 an aircraft carrying arms, including an unknown quantity of mines, from Iran landed at Baldogle airport and was met by senior members of the Courts Union and the Dayniile Islamic Court. The type of mine, antipersonnel or anti vehicle was not specified.6

Action

Please write an appeal to UN Mine action bodies and ask them to call on Iran for demining effecting area by mine fields also stopping planting it in new areas. Also write to Iranian government and show your concern for land mines of minorities land and ask them to demine it.

Please send your appeal to:

United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS)
Two United Nations Plaza,
6th Floor,
New York, NY 10017,
USA

United Nation Development Programme (UNDP)
Mine Action Team
One United Nations Plaza,
20th Floor, New York,
NY 10017,
USA

United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
United Nations,
Room S-3170,
New York, NY 10017,
USA

Supreme leader of Iran
Sayyed Ali Khamenei
E-mail via web site
http://www.leader.ir/

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Louise Arbour

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Chairwoman of European parliament Human Rights committee

Mrs Hélène FLAUTRE

Bureau d'Hélène Flautre au Parlement européen
8G130, rue Wierz
B-1049, Bruxelles, Belgique

Notes:

1 http://www.aftab.ir/news/2007/oct/17/c4c1192619793_social_psychopathology_min.php
2 http://www.icbl.org/treaty/text/english
3 http://www.pedec.ir/detail-96-fa-0.html
4 http://www.icbl.org/lm/2007/iran.html
5 http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/01/d4846c20-8760-4d23-a2a9-fd23d07a0df3.html
6 Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1676 (2006),” S/2006/913, 22 November 2006 p. 62