Appeal to Save the Lives of 2 Baloch Teachers in Iran

In the multi-divided Balochistan, oppression takes various forms and persecution may at times be the consequence of religious differences and standpoints.

In the Iranian part of occupied Balochistan, the Ayatullah regime proved to be merciless to religious groups other than the Shia Muslims and to moderate and tolerant Shia who happen to have a non monolithic understanding of the daily life and a pluralistic vision of the world politics.

Iran is unable to survive as it is right now; ethno-religious groups other than the ruling Shia Persians total more than half of the country’s population. Among the ethnic groups, one can draw a basic line of distinction; contrarily to the Azeris, the Arabic speaking Aramaeans of Khuzestan, the Turks, the Turkmens, the Gilakis, the Loris, the Bakhtiaris, the Kermanjis, the Soranis and the Goranis, who located in many northern and western provinces of Iran, share the same life standards with the Persians, the Baluch, regrouped in the SE confines of the country, live under poverty line.

Minority religious groups in Iran involve amongst others the Aramaean Oriental Christians, the Nestorian Aramaeans, other Christian denominations, the Ahl-e Haq Muslims, the Sunni Muslims, the Zoroasterians (Zardoshti), the Jewish, and the Bahais.

The Iranian province of Balochistan (ca. 180000 km2), which covers less than one third of the entire territory of Balochistan (with the largest part being included in Pakistan – ca. 347000 km2, and a smaller territory controlled by Afghanistan), is the most undeveloped, disregarded and abandoned province of the theocracy. The ethnic difference in the case of Baluchs is accompanied by a religious dissimilarity, as the Baluchs are predominantly Sunni, of the Hanafi School of Jurisprudence, contrarily to the Shia Persians.

Today’s Iranian Baluchs reject
1. the Shia predominance in Iran’s theocratic politics
2. the Persian monopoly of the army, state machine, universities and overall administration
3. the anti-Western hysteria of the Ayatullahs regime, as the Baluchs stick to their Muslim identity without viewing it as necessarily directed against other cultures.

For these reasons, the Baluchs are widely persecuted and undeservedly vilified in Iran. A few days ago, two Baluch religious leaders and teachers, Moulavi Mohammad Yousuf Sohrabi and Moulavi Abdol Qoddoos Mollazehi, known for their commitment to the Baluch National Cause and their insistence on religious tolerance, have been arrested, tortured, forces to confess, and condemned to death. This is the Ayatullah version of Justice, Equity and Piety.

I have just received an Appeal to the International Community, written by a Baluch intellectual, consultant and journalist, Mr. Reza Hossein Borr’s, who addressed it already to a great number of international bodies, governmental authorities, NGOs, and activists. I believe it sheds light on practices pursued in Iran in order to avert to natural, free expression of the Baluch who all struggle – as in SW Pakistan and in S Afghanistan – for tolerance, freedom, national independence, democratic rule, cultural and national identity, and respect of the Human Rights. That is why I publish it integrally.

Make Mr. Reza Hossein Borr’s voice stronger, and express your solidarity with the tyrannized Baluchs of Iran!

Demand the acquittal of the two innocent Baluch teachers, Moulavi Mohammad Yousuf Sohrabi and Moulavi Abdol Qoddoos Mollazehi!

Save their lives!

Appeal to the International Community to save the lives of two innocent Baloch religious leaders in Iran

By Reza Hossein Borr

London, 7 April 08--Two Baluch Sunni religious leaders have been condemned to death after making false confessions under severe tortures. Moulavi Mohammad Yousuf Sohrabi and Moulavi Abdol Qoddoos Mollazehi who were teaching in theological school in Chah Jamal, Baluchistan were arrested after the security forces attacked the base of Peoples Resistance Movement (PRMI) of Iran in which 8 people were killed. The witnesses who live in the neighbourhood claimed that those who were killed were innocent people who lived in the area or were studying at the theological school. The security forces claimed that three key leaders of People Resistance Movement of Iran, Jondollah, were killed in the attack. PRMI confirmed the attack but claimed that only one member of their military wing was killed and the rest left the area safely for other bases.

The security forces clamped down on the area and arrested six people and accused them of being the members of Jondollah. They released four of them later but continued to torture the two teachers of the school who were arrested at the time. There is not any tradition in Baluchistan that the religious leaders participate directly in armed struggle or support the armed groups. In Baluchistan, Sunni leaders have been forced into silence and they hardly express their dissent against the regime even if when their sacred beliefs become under attack by the Shia leaders or media.

Moulavi Mohammad Yousuf Sohrabi and Moulavi Abdol Qoddoos Mollazehi were shown on Iranian official television to confess about their involvement with the Jondollah on 6 of April. They looked distressed and desperate. There were plenty scars of torture in their movements. It was clear that they have been forced to confess. Few former detainees who had seen them in the prison revealed that they have been brutally tortured and beaten.

These two teachers were the employees of the school which was located near the base. They have never been accused of any crime before and they have no any reputation for being politically active. They do not have political background either. The Baloch armed groups live among the people but do not establish any kind of relationships with their neighbours to conceal their identity.

A prominent member of security forces told the locals that they would make an example of these teachers. The Iranian regime intensified its executions in the last two years to create an environment of fear and intimidation to force the Baluch people to submission. The killings and executions have been so much intensified that only in the last seven days, the first week of April 2008, more than 37 Baluch and Sunnis have been killed in Baluchistan and the neighbouring Sunni areas. While the regime gave a long list of drugs that have been confiscated, they called those who were killed as insurgents.

The Iranian regime usually vilifies Baluch political activists as drug traffickers and rebels to justify their killing and executions. In a report that the Amnesty International published about a year ago, it was revealed that 700 Baluch people had been condemned to death. The 700 Baluch were later transferred to different provinces in Iran and were executed under different false charges.

The people of Baluchistan know quite well that Moulavi Mohammad Yousuf Sohrabi and Moulavi Abdol Qoddoos Mollazehi are innocent teachers who were forced to confess for the crimes they have not committed. The religious leaders in Baluchistan enjoy enormous popularity and if these two teachers are executed it is likely that widespread protests and even armed struggle will follow.

Baluchistan is the largest province in Iran. There are about four million Baluch in Iran who live under severe political and economic plight. According to the official figure, 76 percent of the Baluch people live under poverty line while the official poverty line in Iran is about 12 percent. The widespread poverty in Baluchistan is the result of deliberate policies of the regime for starving Baluch people so much that they leave Iran for other countries. This is ethnic cleansing through starvation and forced immigration. Half a million of Baluch people have already left Baluchistan for the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Iranian government is using the policy of no-return and when some of these Baluch people want to return to their homelands they are usually stopped for being aliens.

The international community must exert pressure on a regime that suppresses its own people and sponsors international terrorist organizations to kill innocent people abroad. Any silence will encourage the Iranian regime to continue its oppressive policies internally and its terrorist policies internationally.

Consultant Reza Hossein Borr can be contacted by email: balochfront@aol.com

Note
Picture: Chah Bahar – Iranian Baluchistan’s most important harbour
See: http://koorosh-16.fotopages.com/?entry=1236338 and
http://shw.fotopages.com/15450636/Tis-Port-at-ChabaharSistan-and-Baluchistan-province-Iran.html