Ahwazi families call for release for their detained relatives

 Ahwazna

 Families of up to 500 Ahwazi Arab detainees who were detained during the recent protests in Ahwaz gathered on Monday morning in front of the government building in the Arab region, calling for the release of their relatives.

Some families gathered in front of the representative of Ahwaz in the Iranian parliament calling for an immediate release of their detained relatives.

Those families issued a statement demanding the release of their relatives who took to the streets in protest against the racist policies of the regime.

They also said the detained youth poured onto the streets to defend their identity in a peaceful and legal way.

"Our relatives called for bringing to a stop the policies aimed at changing the identity of the Arab region as well as bringing back the Arab names of Arab streets and cities," the families added.

They also asserted the discriminatory policies of the regime have been in place since the Pahlavi dynasty.

The families revealed that their relatives have been arrested discriminately from their work and from streets with no legal justifications.

The signatories of the statement called on the governor of Ahwaz to interfere with the judicial and security authorities for their relatives to be released.

"Our relatives committed no wrongdoing but demonstrating peacefully against the policies of the regime," they further stated.

  Ahwazi rights activists expressed concern about the health conditions of the detainees since the Iranian security apparatuses have reportedly physically and psychologically tortured them. The regime authorities seek to coerce them into confession.

 They also called on the regime to stop repressing the protests and immediately and unconditionally release the detainees.

On March 28th, thousands of Arab citizens gathered in the southwest Iranian city of Ahwaz to protest against Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Corporation after a children’s program omitted any mention of their culture during a show celebrating the country’s diversity.

The protesters called on the Iranian authorities to let them study their mother tongue, eliminate unemployment, stopping granting government posts and job opportunities in Ahwaz to Persian settlers at the expense of Arabs. They also called for halting schemes aimed to divert Karun river course, which endangers agriculture in the Arab region as well as ditching policies that destroy the Ahwazi environment.

The protests, which continued for several weeks and pushed the regime to set fire to Nawares café, killing at least 11 Ahwazis, was a subject of focus by the US media outlets.