PERSECUTION OF AHWAZI ARABS IN IRAN

Early day motion 184, tabled 12 June 2012 by Bob Russell (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 26 members.

That this House is appalled by the persecution and discrimination faced by the Ahwazi Arabs in the south-west Khuzestan region of Iran by the authorities in Tehran that has resulted in high levels of poverty, illiteracy and child malnutrition not seen elsewhere in Iran; expresses serious concern that the Iranian security forces have targeted government critics within the community, subjected them to torture and forced them to face secret and biased trials in revolutionary courts; condemns the reporting of confessions of those who have been held in custody without access to lawyers and who are likely to have been tortured; welcomes the recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office report on Iran highlighting the Iranian government's discriminatory practices and violence against Ahwazi Arabs and other ethnic minorities; is mindful of the non-implementation of the recommendations made by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review on Iran of 2010 that call for the guarantee of the protection of the civil and political rights of all, particularly dissidents and members of minority groups and the end of torture and secret detention; and calls on the Government to encourage the relevant Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council to seek invitations for the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, to visit Arab districts unimpeded and interview Ahwazi Arab political prisoners without the presence of government officials and security personnel.

Signatures by party: Labour 9, Liberal Democrat 6, Conservative 3, DUP 3, Social Democratic and Labour Party 3, Green 1, Plaid Cymru 1.