Press Release
The Hague, 28 April 2005

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) strongly condemns the arrest on April 25 by the Iranian security forces of Yosef Azizi Banitrouf. The leading Arab journalist and writer has been arrested in his Tehran home after an international press conference denouncing the ongoing massacres in the Arab-dominated city of Ahwaz, in the south-west of Iran.

Mr. Yosef Azizi Banitrouf is the most famous of those thousands Arabs arrested or killed by Iranian security forces since the up-rise of the Arab-dominated city of Ahwaz on April 15.

UNPO welcomes the fact that international human rights organisations are condemning the massacres of Ahwaz civilians in the province of Khuzestan. The most reliable reports claim at least 48 dead (including children and women), hundreds of injured and 1,300 arrested civilians.

The Arab-dominated province of Khuzestan is suffering from discrimination policies and “ethnic restructuring” programmes implemented by the central government of Tehran.

UNPO calls upon the Iranian government for the immediate release of Mr. Yosef Azizi Banitrouf and all the Iranian political prisoners. UNPO urges the international community – and in particular the European Union – to address the issue of minority rights and freedom of speech in all bilateral and multilateral talks with Iran.