Politics of Khuzestan Province

Khuzestan Province is inhabited by a number of ethnic groups: the Bakhtiari, Arabs, Qashqai, Afshar, Persians and Armenians.[1] Half of the province is inhabited primarily by Arabs, and the other half is inhabited primarily by Lurs. Khuzestan's ethnic diversity affects its politics, with ethnic-minority rights playing a significant role. The province's location (bordering Iraq) and its oil resources make it a politically-sensitive region due to its history of foreign intervention, notably the 1980 Iraqi invasion. Ethnic groups, particularly some Arab groups, express grievances. According to Jane's Information Group, "Most Iranian Arabs seek their constitutionally guaranteed rights and do not have a separatist agenda ... While it may be true that some Arab activists are separatists, most see themselves as Iranians first and declare their commitment to the state's territorial integrity."[2]

Former Iranian minister of agriculture Mohammad Reza Eskandari, Mohsen Rezaee (secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council), and several parliamentary committee chairs are from Khuzestan. Ali Shamkhani, an Arab from Ahvaz, was minister of defense from 1997 to 2005 as part of President Mohammad Khatami's government. The Iraqi-born Ayatollah Mohsen Araki was a Khuzestan representative in the Assembly of Experts, the personal representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the Supreme Leader of Iran) in London, and headed the Islamic Centre of England until 2004.

Amnesty International routinely raises human rights concerns relating to Khuzestan's Arabs through linking with separatists websites who provide information, in particular the arrest and detention of political activists, torture and executions. While Khuzestan is not unique in terms of its human rights record, Amnesty notes that often these abuses are related to institutional discrimination. In its report entitled New government fails to address dire human rights situation published in February 2006, Amnesty states:

Even where the majority of the local population is Arab, schools are reportedly not allowed to teach through the medium of Arabic; illiteracy rates are reportedly high, especially among Iranian Arab women in rural areas ... land expropriation by the Iranian authorities is reportedly so widespread that it appears to amount to a policy aimed at dispossessing Arabs of their traditional lands. This is apparently part of a strategy aimed at the forcible relocation of Arabs to other areas while facilitating the transfer of non-Arabs into Khuzestan and is linked to economic policies such as zero interest loans which are not available to local Arabs.

— [3]

In 1997, Human Rights Watch reported that "Iranian Arabs, an ethnic minority centered in southwest Iran, have cited significant restrictions on their language and culture, and on their right to participate effectively in decisions affecting the area in which they live."[4] According to another report in the same year, "Arabic is not taught in elementary schools, and the Arabic teaching in secondary schools focuses exclusively on religious texts. The governor of Khuzestan is not an Arab" while "Arabs make up 35-45 percent of the three million inhabitants of Khuzestan province in the southwest of Iran."[5] In 2005, separatist groups claimed that there was "inadequate attention to their culture and language by state media, facing discrimination in getting jobs, unfair distribution of Khuzestan's oil wealth."

Joe Stork, the director of HRW's Middle East division, said: "The Iranian authorities have again displayed their readiness to silence those who denounce human rights violations. We have serious allegations the government used excessive lethal force, arbitrary arrests and torture in Khuzistan."[6]

The claims made by human rights groups have been strongly contested by the Iranian government, which claims that efforts to disproportionately accentuate the problems in Khuzestan are being led by foreign media or political groups, particularly those based in the UK.[7]

Several Iranian opposition parties operating abroad launched a campaign to stop the American Enterprise Institute from hosting an October 2005 conference.[10] To some, the conference indicated a new alliance between US neoconservatives and Iranian separatists before a possible invasion of Iran by the US and its allies. Ali Al-Taie, a member of the federalist Democratic Solidarity Party of Ahwaz, said during a debate: "When it comes to ethnic rights, Persian opposition groups are on the same side as the terrorist Islamic Republic. If this continues, we will see the Balkanization of Iran." He added, "Despite the long history of persecution, the Arabs of Khuzestan/al-Ahwaz are Iranian. There will never be, nor should there be, disintegration or separatism in Iran. Rather, all Iranian people, regardless of their ethnic background, should live under a pluralistic, tolerant, and federal society."[11]

Khuzestan has tended to elect reformists, particularly those campaigning on a pro-minorities platform. Bombings in the region have polarised opinion, with some Khuzestan representatives (such as Ahvaz representative Nasser Soudani) calling for hard-line measures against Arab dissent, which the government says is encouraged by British spies.[15]

• Arab separatism in Khuzestan
• History of Khuzestan Province
• Origin of the name Khuzestan

• Democracy, Ethnicity and Repression in Iran: The Plight of the Ahwazi Arabs – by Daniel Brett, Henry Jackson Society
• Domestic Threats to Iranian Stability: Khuzistan and Baluchistan by Michael Rubin, JCPA Jerusalem Issue Brief
• New government fails to address dire human rights situation – Amnesty International report
• Election report from Khuzestan
• Amnesty International Maastricht: "We want to see Al-Mansouri", by Danya Chaikel, Crossroads, 8 December 2006
• Khuzestan: The First Front in the War on Iran? by Zoltan Grossman
• A war on Iran would be different from Iraq, and far, far worse by Zoltan Grossman