Friday, April 24, 2009


ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN’S PERSECUTION OPPRESSION OF MINORITIES - ISLAMIC APARTHEID

In General, Christians, Baha’i, Kurds, Jews, Azeris, Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs




Again, religious persecution in Iran

February 20, 2009

Ethel C. Fenig

As Thomas Lifson noted yesterday Iranian authorities destroyed a Sufi holy site, continuing their practice of pressuring and discriminating against religions that do not strictly follow the Shi’ite form of Islam. But the Sufis are not the only religious minority suffering discrimination in Iran.


The 2500 year old Jewish community, which numbered over 80,000 thirty years ago at the time of the Khoemeni Revolution which overthrew the Shah, has dwindled to about 20,000. Those remaining Jews live restricted personal and religious lives, always under suspicion of being traitors for pro “Zionist” activities.

Despite the official distinction between “Jews,” “Zionists,” and “Israel,” the most common accusation the Jews encounter is that of maintaining contacts with Zionists. The Jewish community does enjoy a measure of religious freedom but is faced with constant suspicion of cooperating with the Zionist state and with “imperialistic America” — both such activities are punishable by death. Jews who apply for a passport to travel abroad must do so in a special bureau and are immediately put under surveillance. The government does not generally allow all members of a family to travel abroad at the same time to prevent Jewish emigration. Again, the Jews live under the status of dhimmi, with the restrictions im posed on religious minorities. Jewish leaders fear government reprisals if they draw attention to official mistreatment of their community.



Iran’s official government-controlled media often issues anti-Semitic propaganda. A prime example is the government’s publishing of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious Czarist forgery, in 1994 and 1999.2 Jews also suffer varying degrees of officially sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, education, and public accommodations.


The Islamization of the country has brought about strict control over Jewish educational institutions. Before the revolution, there were some 20 Jewish schools functioning throughout the country. In recent years, most of these have been closed down. In the remaining schools, Jewish principals have been replaced by Muslims. In Teheran there are still three schools in which Jewish pupils constitute a majority. The curriculum is Islamic, and Persian is forbidden as the language of instruction for Jewish studies. Special Hebrew lessons are conducted on Fridays by the Orthodox Otzar ha-Torah organization, which is responsible for Jewish religious education. Saturday is no longer officially recognized as the Jewish sabbath, and Jewish pupils are compelled to attend school on that day. There are three synagogues in Teheran, but since 1994, there has been no rabbi in Iran, and the bet din does not function.


At least 13 Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago, most of them for either religious reasons or their connection to Israel. For example, in May 1998, Jewish businessman Ruhollah Kakhodah-Zadeh was hanged in prison without a public charge or legal proceeding, apparently for assisting Jews to emigrate.


Other religious groups are persecuted too. This week Iran admitted that seven Bahai leaders arrested and detained more than eight months ago would be charged with spying for Israel.


The Bahai faith, which began in the 19th century in what is now Iran, claims their founder, Baha’a'llah, is the last Moslem prophet, not Mohammed. Bahai’s international headquarters are located in Haifa, Israel where Bahais, along with Moslems and Christians of various backgrounds, plus other religions in addition to Jews can practice freely.


This is not true in Iran.


Bahais claim 300,000 followers in Iran, but there are no independent statistics on the denomination’s size in the country. The Islamic republic allows Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who are regarded as members of monotheistic religions, to hold religious gatherings. Bahais are forbidden to hold such meetings, and those who make their faith public are banned from studying at universities serving in the army and working in government offices.


The Iranian prosecutors claim


“All evidence points to the fact that the Bahai organization is in direct contact with the foreign enemies of Iran,” Dorri-Najafabadi wrote in the letter, (snip) “The ghastly Bahai organization is illegal on all levels, their dependence on Israel has been documented, their antagonism with Islam and the Islamic System is obvious, their danger for national security is proven and any replacement organization must also be dealt with according to the law,”


This charge is part of the latest prosecution against Iranian Bahais.


The Bahai International Community, which represents members of the faith worldwide, says hundreds of followers have been jailed and some executed in the years since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/again_religious_persecution_in.html


Religious minorities in Iran: Information from Answers.com


Iran Minority News

http://iranminoritynews.org


Middle East Minorities Unite! by Joseph … Iran ’s Islamic republic has created serious problems for the large communities of non-Persian minorities, including the Azeri’s and the Baluchis and is … http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24209


Q&A: Iran’s Waning Human Rights - New York Times, Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which affords legal rights to minorities and minors. Persecution of religious minorities …



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AZERIS


azerireport.com - Iran Fears Velvet Revolution: Can Azeris Do It? Also, religious minorities such as Christians, Jews and Bahais have also been persecuted. The news regarding arrests of Azeri ethnics in Iran is not unusual …

http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=973&Itemid=49


Minorities Persecuted In Iran, Voice of America interviews Fakhte …Sep 22, 2006 … Religious and ethnic minorities in Iran are often persecuted by the government. Azeris, who make up approximately one-quarter of Iran’s …

http://www.en.baybak.com/minorities-persecuted-in-iran.azr


Iran Minority News » Blog Archive » Persecution of Large Minority …Persecution of Large Minority Community, the Iranian Azeris.

http://iranminoritynews.org/2009/04/01/persecution-of-large-minority-community-the-iranian-azeris/


Persecution, Tension and Awakening in Northern Iran - The Henry …Many Azeris view themselves as something of a sleeping giant in Iranian politics … and Azeris, but of Arabs, Kurds, Balochs, Turkmen and other minorities, …

http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/stories.asp?id=343


Persecution Of Azeri Iranians, Listen to Persecution Of Iran’s Azeri Minority (Real Player) audio clip. For the past fifteen years, the Iranian Azerbaijani minority has been fighting for …

http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/archive/2006-10/2006-10-12-voa6.cfm


UNPO - UNPO General Assembly Joint Member Resolution… repression and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, … The Ahwazi Arab, Azeri Turk, Balochi and Kurdish nation members of UNPO …

http://www.unpo.org/content/view/8296/259/


Amnesty Blogs: Hurry Up Hurriyat : Ethnic minority journalists in Iran, Aug 29, 2008 …Iran minorities journalist journalists arab balochi kurd … Azizi’s case is part of a growing trend in Iran against journalists from Arab, Azeri, … restive amid claims of cultural persecution and discrimination. …

http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_entry.asp?eid=1842


Iran Working Group examines the situation of ethnic and religious minorities

2008-03-17

LEADERSHIP COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS


Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, March 13 representatives of Iran’s ethnic and religious groups testified at a meeting of the Iran Working Group, a Congressional body co-chaired by Congressman Mark Kirk and Congressman Robert Andrews. The Leadership Council for Human Rights assisted in organizing the hearing, which included testimony from Fakhteh Zamani, Director of the Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners; Sharif Behruz, U.S. Representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan; Kit Bigelow, Director of External Affairs for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S.; Dr. Ali Al-Taie, Professor at Shaw University and author of The Arabs of Khuzestan and Iran; Dr. M. Hosseinbor, Iranian Baluchi and author of Iran and Its Nationalities: The Case of Baloch Nationalism; and Nina Shea, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.


LCHR President Kathryn Cameron Porter served as moderator. Porter stressed the importance of seeking solidarity among Iran’s diverse marginalized groups in order to promote human rights for all persecuted peoples.


Rep. Kirk, who convened the working group meeting, said the treatment of Iran’s minorities was a bi-partisan issue of concern. He spoke about the importance of Iran in the future of the United States’ foreign policy, and warned about the danger of failing to understand the country’s complexities and making cultural mistakes.


Nina Shea gave a comprehensive summary of the International Religious Freedom Report on Iran, describing “systematic, ongoing persecution based primarily or entirely upon religion.” Iran’s constitution recognizes Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, as well as non-Shi’a Muslims, as members of official minority religions, but there are severe limitations upon the rights of these groups. According to the International Religious Freedom Report, religious minorities “face substantial societal discrimination, and government actions continued to support elements of society who create a threatening atmosphere.”


Groups that are not recognized face even greater problems, as illustrated by the testimony of Kit Bigelow. More than 200 Baha’is have been killed in Iran since 1978 and countless more have been imprisoned, attacked and harassed, she said. The elimination of the Baha’is is explicit government policy, meaning that they face arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, and defamation from the government sponsored media on a daily basis.


Since Ahmadinejad came to power there has been a new wave of discrimination against Baha’is, Bigelow said. A new draft penal code is currently being considered which specifically requires the death penalty as a punishment for apostasy, and it is thought that this is a direct threat against the Baha’i community which is regularly condemned for apostasy by the authorities.


Discrimination goes beyond religion. Iran is home to many distinct ethnic groups with their own identities and languages. Persians, the dominant ethnic group in Iran, in fact constitute just 45 percent of the population, said Dr. Hosseinbor. The remaining 55 percent of the population, made up of Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, Azeris, Turkmen and Turks, tend to be spread around the outside of the state, often splitting their population between two or three countries.


Sharif Behruz said that the poorest areas of Iran are those populated by ethnic minorities. Lack of investment has resulted in a comparatively low quality of life.


One of the biggest grievances of Iran’s ethnic minorities, expressed by all the representatives of minority groups present at the meeting, is the restriction on cultural rights, particularly the use of minority languages. Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis and other minorities are not permitted to use their mother tongue in schools, and there are significant barriers to the publishing of books. This is just one part of a larger policy of “forced assimilation” which, according to Fakhteh Zamani, has been put in place by the rulers of Iran since the 1920s.


The state-sponsored media also runs defamation campaigns, she said, including openly insulting Azeris, depicting them as intellectually challenged characters, and generally perpetuating the misconception that they are “backward”- a stereotype held by many due to the fact that they are not fluent in Farsi, the official national language.


Under the Islamic Republic, said Sharif Behruz, people are systematically repressed, and minorities are viewed as second class citizens: “unlawful detentions, torture, harassment, executions and disappearances have become a daily routine in the Kurdish areas,” he said.


Behruz said that in order to move forward and develop Iran must become “democratic and decentralized.” This would “recover its devastated economy, create political stability inside and assist in bringing about stability, security in the region, and most importantly, as an effective member of the international community can strengthen world peace.”


Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee emphasized the importance of continuing to speak up for these minority groups. “Every government can be judged by its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities,” she said, “and Iran would get a failing grade.”

http://www.pdki.org/articles1-1337-83.htm


Many Azeris see Iranian hand behind wave of unrest

Iran is working hard to become the leader of the global jihad. By Ilan Greenberg in the International Herald Tribune, with thanks to Twostellas:


BAKU, Azerbaijan: An article denigrating Islam published early last month in an obscure newspaper here in the capital has led to emotional demonstrations across Azerbaijan and in Iran. A prominent Iranian cleric demanded the death of the two writers of the article, who have been imprisoned in Azerbaijan.

The article blamed Islam for Azerbaijan’s meager development and likened the Prophet Muhammad to a used handkerchief. The ensuing furor echoes the case of the Danish cartoons published in September 2005 that mocked Islam and that, months later, generated protests throughout the Muslim world.


Here, the thunderous rhetoric from village imams and other religious conservatives has sent tremors through the Azeri government and the secular elite of the nation.


“I am for freedom of speech but not the freedom to insult,” said Haji Ilgar, an imam at the Jama Old City Mosque in Baku who is often critical of the government of the secular president, Ilham Aliyev. “The only solution is to take this to the courts.”


Many Azeris see the roots of the trouble in what they consider Iran’s shadowy influence here. The two countries have had an often prickly relationship since Azerbaijan’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Iran is the regional power, and Azerbaijan is an up- and-coming oil state, tucked between Iran and Russia on the Caspian Sea.


Both Iran and Azerbaijan are Shiite, but Azeris fear that Iran wants to destabilize the country by spreading its brand of militant Islam across the border. Iran is struggling to deal with a large minority — upwards of a third — of Iran’s 66 million people who are ethnic Azeri, a beleaguered minority that frequently agitates for more rights and cultural autonomy. Iran does not want them to get any ideas from a secular and prospering Azerbaijan, in this view.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/014536.php


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AHWAZI - ARABS


The British Ahwazi Friendship Society campaigns on behalf of the Ahwazi Arabs, an indigenous ethnic group persecuted by successive Iranian governments. …

http://www.ahwaz.org.uk/


Middle East transfer: The continuing Iranian persecution of its Ahwazi Arab population … Over a million Arabs have been deported from the district of Al-Ahwaz, home to some eight million Arabs, in Southern-East Iran, near the Iraqi border. …

http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/stories.asp?id=366


Tehran’s secret war against its own people | Peter Tatchell …Oct 10, 2006 … The persecution of Ahwazi Arabs and the takeover of their land has led to …. is so silent in the face of Iran’s persecution of Arabs. …

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article666792.ece


San Francisco Chronicle - Little-known Arab group in Iran faces …Little-known Arab group in Iran faces persecution … The government accuses Ahwazi Arabs of plotting foreign invasions with everyone from the CIA to Saddam …

http://web.radicalparty.org/pressreview/print_right.php?


World Prout Assembly: Ahwazis: Arab Group in Iran Faces Persecution, Ahwazis: Arab Group in Iran Faces Persecution. For decades, the Persian shahs and ayatollahs of Iran have uprooted Ahwazi Arabs from their oil-rich region …

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2006/11/ahwazis_arab_gr.htmlfunc=detail&par=14038


Iran, stop persecuting your Arab minority | Op-Ed Contributors …Yet the Iranian regime’s claim to represent the interests of Arabs is belied by its brutal persecution of the indigenous Ahwazi Arabs living within its own …

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1207649974077&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Iran’s Occupied Territories - The Henry Jackson Society, Apr 16, 2008 … Ahwazi Arabs want to be free of ethnic persecution and political oppression and be part of an Iran that embraces cultural diversity and …

http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/stories.asp?id=597


This an appeal by Ahwazi Arab journalist Mohammad Hassan Fallahiya to the … to raise the issues of national [ethnic] and religious persecution in Iran…

https://www.indymedia.ie/article/84872


Ahwazi: WS on the Case of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran, These persons, all members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority were … According to reports, demonstrators were demanding an end to the persecution of Arabs, … http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=3985


Look Who’s Persecuting Their Arab Minority! Persecution of an Arab minority. Confiscation of Arab land. Ethnic cleansing. It’s just another day in…Iran. … Tehran has a grand plan to make the Ahwazi a minority in their own land through … As I have written from time to time, Islam is very unpopular in Iran … http://daledamos.blogspot.com/search/label/Iran


Ahwazi: Twenty Persons Face Execution in Iran http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=5371


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CHRISTIANS


Iran Christian Persecution Profile

http://www.cswusa.com/Countries/Iran.htm


The Persecution of Christians in Iran http://www.jubileecampaign.co.uk/world/ira1.htm


Iran Christian Persecution, Christian Persecution continues in Islamic Fundamentalist State of Iran.

http://www.warriorsfortruth.com/iran-christian-persecution.html


Sep 11, 2008 … Two Iranian Christians from Muslim backgrounds may receive the death penalty on charges of apostasy, according to prosecution documents …

http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/iranian-christians-face-death-penalty-in-iran-16204/


Tortured Christian flees Iran. - OneNewsNow - 7/22/2008 11:30:00 AM Bookmark and Share … Iranian Christian Mohsen Namvar has fled across the border into Turkey with his family. ….

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=186434


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BAHA’I




Clergy gather to protest Iran’s persecution of the Bahai Faith

Organizers say if a government can persecute one religion, all faiths are at risk

April 09, 2009

By john darling

for the Mail Tribune

Leaders of several faiths are gathering Saturday in Medford to protest the persecution of members of the Bahai Faith under the Iranian government and to show support for a resolution by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., calling for the release of prisoners being held in Iraq for their faith.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090409/NEWS/904090321/-1/LIFE


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KURDS


The Plight of Iran’s Kurds | The Middle East InstituteIndeed, to understand the plight of Kurds in Iran, Amitay contended, … coupled with what Amitay characterizes as the persecution of Kurds in Turkey, …

http://www.mideasti.org/summary/plight-irans-kurds


Kurdistan - Kurdish Conflict, There were approximately 4 million Kurds in Iran as of a 1986 census. … which historically has been persecuted by both Sunni and Shia Muslims. …

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/kurdistan.htm


Forgotten people: the world and the Kurds. (persecution of Kurds …(persecution of Kurds in Iran and Iraq after the cease-fire) … find The Nation articles. We’re living through hard times,” a Kurdish father tells his son …

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-7849315.html


The Unknown Oppression of the Kurds …. Iran had used the Kurdish parties of northern Iraq during its war with Iraq. So, all these countries benefit from …

http://www.mit.edu/~thistle/v12/2/kurds.html


Testimony of Sharif Behruz, Democratic Party of Iranian …Mar 13, 2008 … The Kurdish area of Iranian Kurdistan is 125000 sq km which is about 8 … most of the Kurds in Iran suffer from triple layers of oppression …

http://www.pdki.org/articles1-1346-28.htm


Iran: Freedom of Expression and Association in the Kurdish Regions …Jan 9, 2009 … (A list of persons who faced governmental persecution as a result of ….. [62] “Iran: Kurdish Teacher Tortured, Sentenced to Death,” Human …

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/79044/section/7


VOA News - Persecution Of Kurdish Iranians. … Farzad Kamangar is a teacher, a human rights defender, and a member of Iran’s Kurdish minority. …

http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2009-01-13-voa1.cfm


Statement of Support by Writers and Journalists from Kurdistan …Many of my community members have themselves experienced persecution, imprisonment, and torture before fleeing Iran. Hearing the Kurdish statement …

http://www.iranpresswatch.org/2009/02/kurdish-statement-support/


Forgotten people: the world and the Kurds. (persecution of Kurds in Iran and Iraq after the cease-fire) .

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1367/is_198908/ai_n5609451/

Autonomy of Iranian KurdistanNov 8, 1983 … of democracy in Iran and autonomy in Kurdistan, and in order to overcome the double oppression of the oppressed Kurdish nationality. …

http://www.iran-e-azad.org/english/kurd.html



Plan for Autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan… The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is the parliament-in-exile of … and in order to overcome the double oppression of the oppressed Kurdish nationality. … 1- The autonomous region encompasses all of Iranian Kurdistan. …

http://ncr-iran.org/content/view/32/


Alliance for Kurdish Rights » Family wounded and boy killed during …Mar 11, 2009 … Iranian Shelling Wounds Two In Iraqi Kurdistan · AKR: Turkish and Iranian bombardments on Iraqi Kurdistan destroy more villages …

http://www.kurdishrights.org/2009/03/11/kurdish-family-wounded-and-lose-a-child-during-continued-iranian-shelling/


The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iran have reached an initial agreement to stop the Iranian shelling of Kurdish villages within the region’s …

http://www.kurdishglobe.net/displayArticle.jsp?id=119E2E82C8561D03A47CE58116B1840E


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JEWS


Family Security Matters » Publications » Shi’ite Iran’s Genocidal … of religious oppression against Persian Jews and other non-Muslims. …

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.656/pub_detail.asp


THE IRANIAN: Jews in Iran, Pooya Dayanim, Mar 12, 2003 … The Islamic Republic reminds Iranian Jews of their uncertain fate and …. Iranian Jews face severe discrimination and persecution in Iran. …

http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2003/March/Jews

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BALUCHIS


Pakistan/Iran: The Baluchi Minority’s ‘Forgotten Conflict’

October 25, 2007

By Abubakar Siddique


October 25, 2007 (RFE/RL) — The Baluchi minority in southwestern Pakistan and southeastern Iran is increasingly marginalized, discriminated against by the state, and suffers from limited access to the benefits of citizenship, according to political observers and human rights groups.


Although the 6 million-8 million ethnic Baluchis in both countries live in a strategic location atop untapped hydrocarbon and mineral deposits and possible trade routes, it looks unlikely that their grim conditions will improve soon.


A report released on October 22 by the International Crisis Group argues that only free and fair elections are likely to encourage Baluchi participation in Pakistani politics. The Brussels-based think tank predicts that in the absence of political reconciliation, violence will continue unabated between Pakistan’s military and Baluchi nationalist militants demanding political and economic autonomy.


“The Baluch people think their resources are being monopolized by the government, that their land and their resources are not their own, and that there is no freedom to express their opinions.” — I.A. Rehman, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan


Baluchi leaders claim to be fighting for autonomy and control over their people’s abundant natural resources, but Islamabad regards them as revolutionaries bankrolled by regional archrival India. Years of armed insurrection have killed hundreds of Baluchi militants, Pakistani troops, and civilians.


I.A. Rehman, the director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent group that monitors human rights abuses, says the fighting has displaced thousands of Baluchis in the insurgency-plagued districts of Dera Bugti and Kohlu. Rehman told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan that the government’s strong-arm tactics to suppress the insurgency have created a troubling human rights situation.


“There is the question of the suppression of all dissent. The cases of the disappeared people are only the tip of the problem,” Rehman said. “The real issue in Baluchistan is that the Baluch people think their resources are being monopolized by the government, that their land and their resources are not their own, and that there is no freedom to express their opinions.”


Displaced Or Missing


The International Crisis Group calls the Baluchi plight a “forgotten conflict.” It maintains that the fighting has so far displaced 84,000 people, while thousands of Baluchi nationalist activists languish in jails and hundreds remain missing.


The Pakistani government meanwhile claims to be pouring billions of dollars into major infrastructure-development projects, including a new port on the Arabian sea coast at Gwadar, along with the construction of major roads, rail networks, dams, and new cantonments. Other ambitious projects are aimed at extracting gold, copper, oil, gas, and minerals in Baluchistan Province, which accounts for nearly half of Pakistan’s territory and is home to some 8 million people, about half of them ethnic Pashtuns.


But many Baluchis oppose such projects and regard them as unfair efforts to exploit their land. Mariana Baabar, an Islamabad-based journalist and political commentator, says the Baluchis are among the most impoverished groups in the country, and require assistance to meet basic needs as well as longer-term development efforts.


“They do not have clean drinking water. They are not being provided with [basic] health care or education. And they are even regarded as not being part of Pakistan,” Baabar said. The Pakistani government “is trying to build a port in Gawadar, but, again, non-Baluchis from Punjab and other regions are being taken there [to settle]. So that is why the people of Baluchistan are unhappy.”


Poverty, Discrimination


Across the border in neighboring Iran, Baluchis are enduring similar woes. There some 2 million Baluchis concentrated in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province, representing about 2 percent of the country’s total population.


Drewery Dyke, a Middle East researcher for human rights watchdog Amnesty International in London, told Radio Free Afghanistan that Iran’s Baluchi population is subject to economic and cultural discrimination. Sistan-Baluchistan is “certainly one of the poorest and most deprived provinces in the country. And it has suffered droughts and extreme weather conditions. And certainly — with respect to the situation of women and schooling for girls — there are shortcomings that the state really needs to address,” Dyke said.


In a September report that Dyke helped research, Amnesty International documented rights abuses by Iranian authorities and the armed Baluchi and hard-line Sunni group Jondallah (which has reportedly been renamed the Iranian Peoples’ Resistance Movement). Since 2005, Jondallah appears to have carried out lethal attacks on Iranian security forces, and taken and executed hostages. Iranian authorities have blamed Jondollah for other attacks that resulted in civilian casualties, but the group has denied responsibility.


Amnesty International has criticized the arrest of suspected Baluchi militants who might have been subjected to torture to produce forced confessions. The group has expressed concern over special judicial procedures put in place by Iranian authorities, and a steep rise in the number of Baluchis who have been targeted.


Dyke said the Iranian authorities “have established a special court…almost like a security court to deal with what is obviously a very severe situation — in some respects, an insurgency in the country. It appears to [have led] to a decline, an erosion of the safeguards, [of] the fair-trial standards and a massive rise in the implementation of the death penalty against the Baluchis.”


The plights of their respective Baluchi minorities are unlikely to improve in the short term. In the best-case scenario, human rights advocates in Pakistan maintain that the coming national elections in Pakistan — if they are sufficiently transparent — might boost Baluchi participation in mainstream politics. That, they say, could provide incentives that help defuse militancy…

http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1079022.html


Nov 25 , 2008


Appeal



Stop the execution of 5 Baloch innocent young men


Reza Hossein Borr


London- 25.11.08– After the demolition of Azim Abad mosque in Balochistan on 27 August 2008, several students and teachers were arrested for expressing their discontent about the demolition of the mosque. Five of them are now on trial on fabricated charges of having links with the People’s Resistance Movement of Iran, Jondollah. Everybody in Baluchistan knows quite well that these are simple teachers and students that have no any kind of links with any armed group or political organizations.


The Islamic Republic of Iran claimed that their trial has been open to the public and the parents of the victims were also present. That regime portrays this trial as if the innocent teachers and students were guilty of some criminal activities in which innocent people have died. This is a new farce of a new kind. The government destroyed the mosque and arrested several teachers and students. They are the victims. There is no any other victim. What a regime! What an Islamic Republic? What an Islamic Republic of Iran? What an Islam in which all sins are allowed! The regime demolishes a mosque, arrests many people for protesting against it and then they stage manage a dramatic trial and claim that there were some people who were victimized by those teachers and students that were arrested.

http://www.thebaluch.com/112508_pressRelease_b.php


Karim Abdian, Ph.D., executive director of the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization, USA , who represents the Ahwazi Arabs in Iran , deplored the continued violation of human rights of the smaller nationalities in Iran and mentioned the hanging of Baluch journalist and human rights campaigner Yaqub Mehrnihad.

http://www.thebaluch.com/081608_release.php


American Chronicle | Appeal to Save the Lives of 2 Baloch Teachers …For these reasons, the Baluchs are widely persecuted and undeservedly vilified in Iran. A few days ago, two Baluch religious leaders and teachers, …

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/57991


Baluch human rights activists arrested, An Iranian Baluch journalist and civil rights campaigner, Yaghub Mehrnehad, aged 28, …. economic, cultural and ethnic oppression of the Baluch people. …

http://www.petertatchell.net/international/iranjournalisttobeexecuted.htm




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posted by Free Israel @ 2:10 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Human rights & peace in the middle east - Arabism & Islam discrimination on the "other"

Human rights & peace in the middle east - Arabism & Islam discrimination on the "other"

[Analysis] Peace will prevail when economic, social and cultural rights are granted to all ...

The Middle East... conflicts...

For example:

* the Israel and [so called] "Occupied Territories" (Palestine) issue

* the conflict between Hamas and the Fatah; the Iraq conflict

* the conflict in Afghanistan

* conflicts within Saudi Arabia

* the security concerns, especially the nuclear threat, that Ahmadinajad's Iran poses

* the Kurdish situation with serious discrimination from Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq with very limited support from any powers

* the Lebanon conflict

* the rise of Islamic militancy in Egypt and Algeria

* the suppression of any opposition in Saudi Arabia and most of Middle East countries

*
the spread of fundamentalist Islam -- Wahabbi style -- and the attempt
to suppress any modern civil secular democratic voices in the Middle
East region

* and not to forget the problems in Sudan where civilians are being massacred in Darfur by the government and the military.


[...]
Islam is at the center of all social order and of the moral and
intellectual values of Middle Eastern Muslims. In fact, it is the
official religion in most Arab and Islamic countries. Considering
Arabism and Islam as synonyms embodies discrimination against various
ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East. [...]

Conclusion

Most
regimes in Middle East are authoritarian, if not dictatorships, ruling
for decades by fear or reward. The elites who rule in Middle East
countries used religious faith with ideology of nationalism for
blinding people and controlling them ... conflicts in the Middle East
all look different, but the real cause root is related to human rights
abuses.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=&no=383905&rel_no=1

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posted by Free Israel @ 6:42 AM 0 comments

Monday, February 25, 2008

Indian Israeli American Zubin Mehta hopes to end North Korean isolation through music

[Indian Israeli American] Zubin Mehta hopes to end North Korean isolation through music Zubin Mehta hopes to end North Korean isolation through music ...London, February 25 (ANI): Zubin Mehta, the president of the famous New York Philharmonic orchestra, has said that he hopes that the group's upcoming show ...

http://in.news.yahoo.com/ani/20080225/r_t_ani_wl_europe/twl-zubin-mehta-hopes-to-end-north-korea-d2443e4.html

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posted by Free Israel @ 3:39 PM 0 comments

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Clarity on Islamic Republic of Iran's nukes danger to the world

Clarity on Islamic Republic of Iran's nukes danger to the world


No one denies, the Islamic militant mullahs have nukes capable of being used for annihliation in Europe and in the middle east.


No one denies the Iranian Islamic oppressive regime has threatened genocide (at least) on US, UK (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/10/wiran10.xml) , Israel (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6181029.stm) .



Dealing with a Nuclear-Intent Iran
Feb 2, 2008
We know already that [the mullahs ruling Iran] do not give a damn about killing their own people in great numbers. We have seen it again and again. ...





New Info on Iran Nuclear Program - washingtonpost.com
Ahead of crucial report on Iran's nuclear activities Friday, Washington has given the UN nuclear watchdog more information





* Mad mullahs issue fatwa to use nuclear weapons





* Iranian students attack 'fascist Ahmadinejad' - Telegraph



* Iran confirms new nuclear centrifuges - 02/24/2008 - MiamiHerald.com



* IAEA CONFRONTS IRAN OVER WEAPONS PROGRAM (SORT OF)







* People of Iran want no nukes call for UN sanctions on mullahs










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posted by Free Israel @ 5:03 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

While Arabs, Muslims hate, murder each other, Israel welcomes Jewish refugges from Islamic Oppressive Iran

While Arabs, Muslims hate, murder each other, democratic & free Israel (the gem) welcomes Jewish brothers refugees from the ISLAMIC Totalitarian Oppressive Republic of Iran

Israel welcomed a group of Iranian immigrants. Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Iranian immigrants land in Israel Ynetnews
Israel welcomes largest group of Iran olim since Islamic Revolution Ha'aretz

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posted by Free Israel @ 11:51 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

KURDS VS ARAB 'PALESTINIANS' - IT PAYS TO BE AN ILLEGITIMATE & MURDEROUS "PALESTINIAN" THAN TO BE A LEGITIMATE PEACEFUL KURD

KURDS VS ARAB 'PALESTINIANS'
IT PAYS TO BE AN ILLEGITIMATE & MURDEROUS "PALESTINIAN" THAN TO BE A LEGITIMATE PEACEFUL KURD

Dec. 2007

As the world's about to give yet another state [Jordan ain't enough?] for the [group of immigrant Arabs into Israel that call themselves as] "Palestinians", that have never behaved and do not merely fight for a 'homeland' which Israel was never theirs anyhow, but have their goal of eliminating Israel, ethnic cleansing and racist genocide, the poor Kurds still sink under oppression by Turkey, by Arab racism in: Syria, Iraq, and by Islamic fascists regime of Iran.

Let's make it clear, even if there will be a "Palestine" state, it will never change the factual history, that a group of immigrants came into the land of the Jews and hijacked the world comunity via terrorism and Arab oil power to give them yet a second 'Palestine' state (after Jordan).

______________________________

THE KURDS
REAL PEOPLE, WITH REAL ASPIRATION OF A DESERVING HOMELAND - THE LEGITIMATE
VICTIMS OF OPPRESSION & ARAB RACISM


Hiding Arab Racism, May 1, 2005 By Adel Makhoul

This book, like Culture and Imperialism, is essentially about Western prejudice against Islam. Said condemns intellectuals in the West who in his eyes are "agents of exploitation". Yet Said himself is an agent of racism: Arab Racism.

A Pan Arabist, he always supported Arab unity and "Islam" at the expense of non-Arab and non-Moslem peoples. Said directs and manipulates the Western taste for self criticim, and all that does is deflect the world's attention from Arab and Moslem attrocities committed against Christians, Kurds, Jews, Israelis, Coptic Christians, non-Arab Sudanese, etc.

Thus, reading Said, you would never realize that Sadam Hussein's poisoning of the Kurds has never been condemned by one Arab intellectual or leader. This is because a racist prevalent attitude in the Arab mind is that the entire Middle East should be Arab. This also explains the attitude towards Israel, a country that is predominantly non-Moslem and speaks a Middle Eastern language other than Arabic.

The pity is that Said himself is a Christian, yet he never spoke on behalf of Coptic Christians in Egypt, or the right of Christians to practice their faith in Saudi Arabia and probably other places in the Arab World. He is facilitating the overall aim of PanArab Nationalists by distracting the West from what is happening in the Arab world.

For a better understanding of relations between the West and Islam, I recommend books by Bernard Lewis, such as "The Moslem Discovery of Europe" and the "Jews of Islam". I also recommend books by the Egyptian scholar and Jewish refugee Yael Bat Yeor, such as "The Dhimmi".
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1FZS0RYTC94JP

Idea Portal: Kurds under oppression in Iran, Kurds under oppression in Iran. You can easily find more than ten top film festivals around the world from Italy to Chicago...http://shauheen.ngareh.com/archives/000146.html

The Unknown Oppression of the Kurds, The Unknown Oppression of the Kurds .... Iran had used the Kurdish parties of northern Iraq during its war with Iraq. So, all these countries benefit from ...http://web.mit.edu/thistle/www/v12/2/kurds.html -

Kurdish Oppression in Turkey Goes On; Short-Lived Republic - New ...Kurdish Oppression in Turkey Goes On; Short-Lived Republic ... The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in northern Iran survived only from December 1945 to December ...http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEED61539F934A35757C0A967958260

What Really has happened in Halabja and The Racism of so-called Arab Intellectuals towards Kurds and the Kurdistan: The case of Mr. Mohammed Al Obaidi ...http://home.cogeco.ca/~kurdistan5/3-1-05-opinion-hadi-halabja-arabs-racism.html

He Has Gassed His Own People"Saddam Hussein is a man who is willing to gas his own people, willing to use ... and Iran--were responsible perhaps for the gassing of civilian Kurds. ...http://hnn.us/articles/862.html

Iran: Kurdish journalists face executionT his case provides yet another example of the current climate of severe oppression in the Kurdish region of Iran. Mr Butimar wrote articles for agricultural ...http://www.indexonline.org/en/news/articles/2007/3/iran-kurdish-journalists-face-execution.shtml

Kurds in Syria is between 2 to 2.5 million. ... murder, torture, discrimination and terror to keep the Kurds under control. ...http://home.cogeco.ca/~kurdistan2/14-3-04-opinion-badrakhan-freedom-for-kurds-w-kurdistan.html

Stop the Syrian Violence against the Kurds in Syria - Reform Party ...The Kurds are for the Autonomy within Syria framework, is explained by the ... Islamic Barbarism, colonialism and national oppression, our people call on ...http://www.reformsyria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=296&Itemid=67

Second- Citizens...For Many, Not Citizens at All

Erasing Ethnic Identity.Syrian Kurds were banned from giving their children names reflecting their ethnic identity.Pary Karadaghi, Director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch in Washington, says one of the most basic ways of showing Kurdish identity was taken away. "The campaign of 'Arabization' actually replaced the Kurdish names," she says. "People could not have Kurdish names on cities, buildings [and] businesses. Children's names could not be Kurdish."

Syria's Kurds struggled for years to survive despite government oppression on many fronts. They closely watched their Iraqi counterparts, who achieved a measure of autonomy in the 1990s, and pressed Damascus for their own rights. Their demands were ignored or sometimes met with waves of repression. http://www.khrw.org/advocate/2005/syrias_kurds_struggle_for_rights.htm

_____________


THE FAKE 'NATION' CALLED: "PALESTINIANS" THE ILLEGAL GROUP SINCE THEY DEFIED UN'S PARTITION PLAN IN 1948 WITH GENOCIDAL GOALS



ROOTS

Who Are the Palestinians? At DePaul, Don't Ask and Don't Tell September 1, 2005 Historically, Palestinian Arabs were not a distinct nationality. Though not all Muslims are terrorists, most major international terrorism today is committed by Muslims. .http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=22&x_article=1028

Never forget this one point: There is no such thing as a Palestinian People, there is no Palestinian entity ...http://www.peacefaq.com/palestinians.html

What is a Palestinian? Arabs have been flocking to Israel ever since it was created and even before, coinciding with the wave of Jewish immigration into Palestine prior to 1948. ...http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22564

Illegal Arab immigration into "Palestine" - part of OsloT, he Arab Legion never allowed a census of Palestinian refugees. .... Israel doesn't enforce immigration laws (and other laws) in Arab communities. ...http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/immigration-oslo.html

How the Israel-Palestine Problem Came to Pass Trying to force Britain to convert Palestine immediately into an Arab state, ... Jewish immigration into Palestine was going to be limited to a total of ...http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/02/how_the_israelpalestine_proble.html

History of Israel and Palestine in VERY Easy To Understand Maps The Arab countries occupy 640 times the land mass as does Israel and ... The Jews had already begun mass immigration into Palestine in the 1880's in an ...http://www.masada2000.org/historical.html

Is Jordan Palestine? That homeland is Trans-Jordan, or Eastern Palestine.... A second Palestinian state to the west of the River is a prescription for anarchy.http://www.danielpipes.org/article/298

Jordan, Transjordan - The Peace FAQ Transjordan being to the east of the River Jordan, it formed in a sense, the interior of Palestine." - King Hussein, writing in his Memoirs ...http://www.peacefaq.com/jordan.html

1950 - Transjordan changes its name to Jordan and begins to call Judea and Samaria the West Bank. 1964 - The Palestine Liberation Organization (P.L.O.) is ...http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=3/b/050820021

American Thinker: Palestine - Partition and Propaganda, It was then called Trans-Jordan, it comprised 77% of the territory administered by Great Britain under the League of Nations Mandate for Palestinehttp://www.americanthinker.com/2007/06/palestine_partition_and_propag.html

Jordan is Palestine In other words, Jordan is Palestine. Arab Palestine. There is absolutely no difference between Jordan and Palestine, nor between Jordanians and...http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/janfeb04/jordan.html

Palestinian people do not exist, In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, ... the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand ...http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28222

"PALESTINIAN" IDENTITY AS PROPAGANDA DEVICE In deference to this non-assertion of "Palestinian" Arab ethnic identity, the League of .... In reality, Today, there is no difference between Jordanians, ... ...http://www.rosenblit.com/Palestine.htm


-----

GOAL

Israel Has Always Faced Arab Genocidehttp://www.tzemach.org/fyi/docs/beres/sept02-03.htm

Israel not only has the moral right to do so, but legal rights as well. ... that the resolution "was an invitation to genocide against the Jewish people. ...http://www.freeman.org/m_online/dec97/shustef1.htm

Israel's Survival... Historically, the Islamic world's orientation to genocide against the Jews has not been limited to idle phrasemaking. Even before Israel came into existence ...http://www.freeman.org/m_online/jun00/beres.htm

Teach Kids Peace – Sharansky: ‘PA Promotes Genocide’But are such depictions laying the groundwork for genocide? Natan Sharansky, Israel’s minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, called a news conferencehttp://www.teachkidspeace.org/doc1015.php

Hamas Issues Islamic Call For Genocide on PA Television - Defense …Israeli news covered by the Arutz Sheva news team bringing news briefs and in-depth stories covering Israeli politics, the Arab-Israeli conflict, …http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122094

The Palestinian War of Annihilation of the Jewish State The PLO mission is “the elimination of Zionism in Palestine! ... accommodation with Israel; only a renewed war of annihilation - the combined PLO-Arab state ...http://www.ortzion.org/archnws07_2.html

February poll 75 of palestinians don't give Israel a right to exist... IMRA - Friday, February 16, 2007 NEC 12-15 February Poll: 75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the right to exist ...http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=33100

Fatah-Controlled TV Promises Elimination of Israel - Inside Israel ...The lyrics of the latest PA video calling for Israel's elimination, as recorded from PA TV on October 23, 2007 and translated by PMW, are as follows: ...http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124079

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posted by Free Israel @ 6:09 AM 0 comments

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Questionnaire To the Arab Muslim anti-Israel propagandist

To the Arab Muslim anti-Israel propagandist:



1) Are you denying that the Arab racist attacks on Jews in Israel/"palestine" has started since 1838 (Safed) [so were the attacks in 1883, 1920, 1921, 1929 - Hebron, etc.]?



2) Had Israel be a (mostly) Arab-Muslim State, would the intolerant Arab-Muslim Goliath world not accept them?



3) Why is there a complete silence on the historical fact of Arab immigration late 1800s early 1900s into Israel/"palestine"?



4) What anti-Israel bigotry is stronger, the "Arab racism"; factor? or the 'Islamic-Jihad' factor?



5) 'Moral equivalence' Do you have Arab activists on behalf of Israeli victims, just like you have Jewish, Israeli, Zionists activists for the (so called) 'Palestinian cause' (whatever that is...)?



6) If humane Israel would really go after "unarmed poor palestinians" as the 'Pallwood' propagandists tell us, How many Arabs would have survived Israel's might?



7) Who's more at fault, the Arab Muslim "Palestinians" parents pushing for Shahid-isim, or the indoctrinating Mullahs, Imams in the holy Mosques for using "Palestinian" kids and women as human bombs and as human shields (so they can blame the Zionists when Arab kids die)?



8) What would have happened if Arab Muslim "Palestinians" would have invested as much energy in rebuilding their lives as they do in destroying both nations' lives in fascistic Jihad, total hatred and campaign for GENOCIDE [to "drink the blood of the Jews" or to "push them all to the sea", or to "wipe them off of map"]?



9) Why does "bad" IDF Israeli army announce an area residents' civilians to evacuate before an operation against terrorists?



10) Why did Humane Israel's IDF invented specially low range missiles designed to hit ONLY the [terror] target and minimize collateral damage?



11) When was the last time the "Palestinian" well oil-ed propaganda machine has retracted [or even apologized] for it's usual PALLYWOOD fake images industry?



12) What's the difference between a Christian in Indonesia, Buddhist in Thailand, Christian in Nigeria, in Philippines, Australians in Bali (2002), non Muslims in London (0707/2005), in Madrid (bombing), "not the-right-kind-of-Muslims" in Shiite-Sunni hateful massacres in Iraq, oppression & massacres in the "Islamic Republic of Iran", and Israeli victims of the same "evil ideology"?



13) What's a harder oppression, your "average" Arab Muslim regime's on it's own people, Hamas-tan Islamic Apartheid [which most "Palestinians" supported!] on non Muslims, or the pro-Jihad parents' on their kids?



14) What would have happened if at least ONE Arab Muslim nation [regular or oil-ed one] would really care about the Arab [brothers, that since the 1960's started to call themselves as] "Palestinians" and let them get off the terror slum into normality and even prosperity?



15) What part of 'BLIND FASCISM' do Arab-Muslims deny, the usual obsessed anti Israel demonization [no matter what Israel does] or the reluctance to see Israel's super kind gestures for those that are trying to kill them [releases from prison, giving away own land vital to it's security, humanitarian aid, etc.] not as goodness but as "weakness"?



16) Why is it that when Islamists terrorists [Hamas or Hezbullah, Islamic Jihad, etc.] succeed in making sure Arab kids die [with their known tactics of cowardly firing among or behind children, etc.] the Arabs, Muslims rejoice and the Israelis, Jews are saddened ?



16) How can land be an issue [or the blatant lies the Arab lobby's financed: Jimmy Carter has said, though he admitted that Israel is a great equal democracy for all, Arabs and Jews alike!'] if "moderate" Palestinian official government still has venomous hatred and pro 'death cult' in it's regular curriculum and on it's official TV, or that such "moderate" Arab media outlets [like Al Jazeera] still glorify mass murder as "martyrdom"?



17) Who's more powerful, the Arab Muslim Goliath Oil mafia "lobby" on the world or a Chinese, Italian, Israeli, Irish, pharmaceutical, cigarettes lobbyists in Washington?



18) Had the International Arab Muslim lobby of nations in the UN [or the EU] not threatened other nations to bash Israel 24/7 [motivated by intolerance only!], What would be then the outcome?



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posted by Free Israel @ 10:31 AM 0 comments