Iran’s regime detains Ahvaz intelligentsia
The Iranian authorities have
arrested many activists from Ahvaz amid appeals from the Ahvaz community to the
League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to interfere
and stop the crackdown.
The Iranian Intelligence Service has
detained a director and makeup artist from Ahvaz's Nasr Cultural Institute. Hassan
Sobhipour, the head of the Institute, and Hossein Eshghyan (Saki), the makeup
artist were reportedly accused of producing a number of musical works,
representing the Arabic culture of Ahwazi people.
Sobhipour and Saki were arrested for
their latest work, titled “Unity of the Arab People of Ahwaz”, which is unacceptable
by Iranian regime.
Karim Dahimi, a human rights
activist from Ahwaz, said that the Iranian occupation has been targeting the
Ahvaz culture for the past 90 years.
“Under the former Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a total of 23 cultural institutions were shut down. Today
we see the Iranian regime bans any peaceful cultural work for any false
excuses,” Dahimi told THE REFERENCE.
He added that the mullah regime has
detained large numbers of Ahvaz intellectuals and artists and some of them
sentenced to life imprisonment.
A study conducted by the Ahvaz
people in 2004 showed that the number of Arabs has exceeded 10 million people
in Iran.
