Mar 09, 2006

Ahwazi: Mayor Among Latest Arrests by Iran Regime


Former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaei, called for Arabs to be taught a lesson with high profile executions, martial law and a crack-down by security forces, according to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society
Saeed Ehmidan, the mayor of Khalafiyeh (Khalafabad), is among the latest wave of arrests by the Iranian regime in Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan). Khalafiyeh is a own of 30,000 inhabitants lying 58 miles south-east of Ahwaz City.

Others residents of Khalafiyeh arrested by the regime include:
Aref Ghali Hidari
Ahmed Karim Hidari
Mousa Karim Hidari
Hossien Saeed Moramadhi
Ahmed Saeed Moramazi
Yousef Saeed Moramazi
Hadi Badily (Madori)

Prominent Ahwazi Arabs are being rounded up in a wave of repression designed to stop the anti-government demonstrations in the province. Mass arrests and executions follow pressure on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from his hard-line supporters who have called for a tougher line on the political opposition. In February, Hamid Zangeneh, a non-Arab Majlis member for Khuzestan aligned with the former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaei, called for Arabs to be taught a lesson with high profile executions, martial law and a crack-down by security forces. In an interview with the Mehr News Agency, Zangeneh accused the regime of not doing enough, despite the killings and mass arrests of Arabs. President Ahmadinejad is under pressure from the religious establishment to prove his hard-line credentials by killing Arabs.

Source: British Ahwazi Friendship Society