Iranian representatives accuse minorities of terrorism

Representatives of Iran verbally attacked a delegation of Ahwazi Arab human rights activists at the seventh session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, according to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS).

Several of the Iranians present banged on the table throughout a speech by Karim Abdian, Executive Director of the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization, and accused them of terrorism.

The numerous indigenous minorities in Iran face significant barriers to their human rights. According to Abdian, “Iran’s indigenous Ahwazis are kept backward, poor and illiterate. The illiteracy rate is four times and unemployment is six times the national average ... Only one out of four Ahwazis graduates from high school. According to government’s own data, 80 percent of the Arab children suffer from malnutrition.”

“The regime maintains anyone who supports indigenous rights in Iran is a secessionist and terrorist, without offering any supporting evidence,” said BAFS spokesman Nasser Bani Assad. “Even if the delegation had sworn allegiance to the Supreme Leader, they would have been denounced as terrorists and separatists for even raising the issue of indigenous rights in Iran,” he added.

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