حزب مردم بلوچستان Balochistan People’s Party بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل
RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION TOWARDS THE SUNNIS CONTINUES IN IRAN
TURKMENSAHRA LIBERATION ORGANIZATION ; 06/12/2008
Now it is the turn of the
Salehabad Sunnite Turkmen Mosque and Religious School.
The Islamic Republic is trying to eradicate the Sunnites and ethnic
minorities within the geographical borders that is now called Iran. This
time, the religious school and the mosque which is located in Salehabad town
of Torbat-e Jam and belongs to the Turkmen Sunnites having 24 years of
background, is on the verge of disappearance. This school is a place where
religion, Koran and hadiths (the Prophet Muhammad's sayings) are
thought and dozens of Turkmen and Baluchi students are trained. This
religious school is the school of the Salehabad Mosque nearby and Razavi
Khorasan Sunnites together with Sarahs and Torbat-e Jam Turkmens. It was
built by the philanthropists of the region.
Dozens of Sunnite Turkmens are getting religious training in this madrasa.
Moreover, many Sunnite Turkmen sisters of ours are given hadiths training in
the female siblings department of this school.
The Salehabad Madrasa was once closed down by the security forces in 1996,
during Hashemi-Rafsanjani's presidency. Its teachers were exiled elsewhere
and jailed. The school building and everything inside the
building, from the carpets to the books, was extorted by the government of
the Islamic Republic. The Turkmen Sunnite community, that does not intend to
involve in politics but merely wishes to get religious education and hand
their beliefs down to next generations, reopened this school five years
after its closure.
In this new period, when the government's Shiite statesmen are pushing the
limits of oppression and impudence towards the Sunnites, the Cultural
Revolution Higher Board also made laws in an attempt to take the independent
Sunnite religious schools under the control of the state of Shiite Islamic
Republic and make the Sunnites get Shi'ism training in the religious
schools.
Now, the authorities of the Islamic Republic adjudged the evacuation of the
Salehabad Madrasa under the pretext that its land belonged to the state.
Thus, they once again put forward their hatred and antagonism
towards the Sunnite more clearly.
Imam Abdol Ghader Gilani Madrasa located in Asalam town of Gilan was also
demolished a short while ago by the order of the authorities of the Islamic
Republic. This school was one of the most active religious schools of the
Sunnites in Gilan and had a background of 32 years. The security authorities
of the Islamic Republic had no reason to close down this school. They
demolished another religious base of the Iranian Sunnites under the pretext
that the school building was not resistant to earthquakes.
The escalation of the pressures over the Turkmen clergymen who by sending an
open letter to Khamenei, the religious leader of the Islamic Republic,
advised the return of the independence of the Sunnite religious schools; the
state terrorism against the Baluchi clergymen; the sentences of capital
punishment and imprisonment, the closure of the religious schools in Asalam
and Talesh of the Sunnite Azerbaijani Turks; the arrest of the Sunnite
Azerbaijani Turkish intellectuals in Zanjan; the prohibition of the Friday
prayers of the Sunnites in Zanjan; the
closure of the Turkmen mosques and madrasas in Torbat-e Jam and Bojnord; the
destruction of the Sunnite Mosques in Shiraz and Mashhad etc. All of these
indicate that the regime of the Islamic Republic is in the pursuit of
exterminating the Sunnites in Iran.
The Islamic Republic is performing genocide towards the Sunnites in the
presence of the whole world. According to the UN Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the annihilation of a
nation, tribe, race or sect is a crime and should be chased. According to
the article 18 of the Human Rights Declaration "Everyone has the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion". However, the Islamic Republic
tramples on these fundamental human rights and sends the opponents to the
scaffold.
The regime of the Islamic Republic is neither a Republic nor Islamic. This
regime is a dictatorship that is the black sheep of civilized society in the
21st century. That regime is a regime in which 70 million is confined. 70
million from different colors, languages, nationalities, races and sects.
As Turkmensahra Liberation Organization, we severely condemn the assaults of
the Islamic Republic towards the beliefs of the Sunnites and Turkmens and
warn this dictator regime that it is the end of the road.
Nationalities and various sects in Iran will teach this regime a lesson that
will make history forever. Certainly, that day is not that far.
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Protesters at Baloch terror trial
Drop all charges against Marri and Baluch
Stop abusing the anti-terror laws
Human rights campaigners are not terrorists
On
Monday 1 December, the Baloch 'terrorism' trial resumed in London. Friends
and supporters of Hyrbyair Marri and Faiz Baluch staged a protest outside
the court, calling for the trial to be halted and the charges dropped.
Although the police and court officials were somewhat aggressive, forcing
the protesters to leave the court grounds, the supporters of the defendants
made their point and were seen by all court staff and by everyone who came
to the court and who passed by it.
The Balochistan human rights campaigners Hyrbyair Marri and Faiz Baluch are
being prosecuted on terrorism charges, which are widely believed to have
been concocted by Pakistani intelligence.
Monday's protest was supported by Baloch and Sindhi rights campaigners from
Pakistan and by members of CAMPACC, the UK Campaign Against Criminalising
Communities, which opposes abuses of the anti-terror laws.
Mr Marri and Mr Baluch are represented in court by two of the UK's leading
human rights barristers, Henry Blaxland QC and Dame Helena Kennedy QC.
Mr Marri is a former MP and government minister in the regional assembly of
Balochistan – a previously independent state, which was invaded and
annexed by Pakistan in 1948, and which has ever since been
under illegal Pakistani military occupation. Mr Baluch is his campaign
assistant.
"The Pakistan High Commissioner, speaking on behalf of the new democratic
government of Pakistan, says his government wants reconciliation in
Baluchistan and opposes the prosecution, effectively calling for the charges
to be dropped," says human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who helped
coordinate Monday's protest.
"Previously, the acting Interior Minister of Pakistan, Rehman Malik,
announced that terror charges against Mr Marri in Pakistan have been
cancelled; stating that the case against him had been politically motivated
by the Musharraf dictatorship. This discredits the whole basis on which
Marri and Baluch have been charged in London.
"The trial is another abuse of the anti-terror laws, whereby legitimate
human rights campaigners end up on trial.
"It
appears that the UK government has been blackmailed into arresting these men
and harassing other Baloch exiles and refugees. It is reported that
Pakistan's military and intelligence services have threatened to end all
cooperation with the UK government in the "war on terror" unless critics of
its war in Balochistan are silenced and jailed. That is probably why Marri
and Baluch are on trial.
"The UK authorities seem to have decided these men are expendable for the
sake of the 'greater good' of tackling terrorism by maintaining close
relations with the Pakistani military and intelligence services.
"Marri and Baluch have campaigned for self-determination for Balochistan and
helped expose Pakistan's annexation and oppression of the Baloch nation.
They are defending their people against military oppression and economic
exploitation. Pakistani military chiefs want them prosecuted because they
have been such effective campaigners, exposing to the world Islamabad's
tyranny in Balochistan.
"For nine years, the UK's Labour government aided and abetted the illegal
dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf, selling him military equipment that was
used to prosecute Pakistan's illegal war in Balochistan – a war that has
involved the perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity and
which has been strongly condemned by international human rights groups,"
said Mr Tatchell.
Further information: Peter Tatchell – 020 7403 1790
Peter Tatchell is the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Oxford East
www.greenoxford.com/peter and www.petertatchell.net
PETER TATCHELL HUMAN RIGHTS FUND
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2008-12-02 ; Balochistan Human Rights Watch
According to the reports obtained by activists in Balochistan Human Rights
Watch, the security forces of Iranian Islamic Republic in Zahedan, attacked
a home in Zahedan Thursday 27th November 2008 at 8:00 and arrested two men
‘’Bahman Rigi’’ and ‘’Mohammad’’ son of Chakar from Berahoui tribe. Mohammad
was beaten almost to death and unconsciousness while family members were
witness to the brutality. The men were taken away and moved to an unknown
place.
The family members, while extremely worried for the destiny of Mohammad,
addressed the authorities for the reason why he was arrested and where he
had been moved to. As it is commonly used procedure by the security forces,
the family received no information about the case nor about the background.
4 days after the arrest Monday 1st December, the security forces contacted
the family and explained that Mohammad was a ‘’Crystal’’ drug addict, and he
has passed away because he had no access to the drug while he was in
detention. The family was ordered to hurry up for taking his body, otherwise
the body would be buried without further notice.
Mohammad’s family refuse all false claims from the security forces saying
that he was a drug addict, and are sure that he died because of being
subjected to extreme torture. Mohammad was 37 year old and father of 4
children. The family of Mohammad, flowingly, received the body. There were
clear and extensively obvious physical traces on his body proving that he
was tortured, such as cranial fracture, holes under his feet, bruise on his
body and fractures between the fingers.
The security authorities, in addition, explained that Mohammad was involved
in the ‘’episode of Ahmad-Abad Boulevard in Zahedan’’ (1) where several
persons belonging to Jerizahi family of Rigi tribe were wounded and killed.
As the security authorities have claimed, they received the intelligence
report from Rigi tribe saying that Mohammad was involved in the episode,
while the head members of Rigi tribe have denied any link between Mohammad
and the mentioned episode, and in this regard, they consider it as a false
accusation and as a tool and factor used by the regime for making conflicts
between different Baloch families and tribes(2).
We in ‘’Balochistan Human Rights Watch’’ condemn the barbaric act of killing
of innocent Mohammad and would like to draw the attention of all freedom
fighter/seeker individuals and organizations to an urgent call for acting
against the Islamic republic of Iran’s deliberate policy making more and
more conflicts between different tribes and families in Balochistan.
Balochistan Human Rights Watch / Radio Balochi FM
http://bhrw.blogspot.com/
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Israel's Barak asks Clinton, Gates to help face up to Iran
07/12/2008
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak spoke on Saturday to
incoming US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert
Gates, asking them to cooperate in facing up to Iran.
Barak held separate phone conversations with Clinton and Gates and
congratulated them for their appointment by president-elect Barack Obama,
the defence ministry said in a statement.
He called for international cooperation in order to face global challenges
including efforts to halt Iran's nuclear drive, which the Jewish state and
the United States say is aimed at developing an atomic bomb.
The Islamic republic claims the programme is solely for civilian purposes.
"The free world has many challenges on the agenda, from Iran to radical
Islamic terrorism, and tight international cooperation is needed to face
these issues," Barak was quoted as telling Clinton and Gates.
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Iran to crush
rebels behind police murders
07/12/2008
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran has vowed to give a "tooth-breaking" response to a Sunni
Muslim rebel group which killed 16 Iranian policemen it abducted in June,
local press reported on Saturday.
"The Islamic republic will firmly give a tooth-breaking response to armed
rebels in border areas," Qorban Ali Dori Najafabadi, the state prosecutor
general, was quoted as saying by the Etemad Melli daily.
Iran confirmed on Thursday that all abducted policemen were killed by the
"terrorist group of Abdolmalek Rigi."
The Jundullah (Soldiers of God) group had said they captured 16 Iranian
border policemen on June 12 at a checkpoint in the southeastern town of
Saravan, before taking them across the border into Pakistan.
In early September, an Iranian police commander said the group had released
one of the policemen, who said his colleagues were still alive.
In August, Jundullah leader Rigi said his group was ready for talks with the
government, offering to lay down its arms if the Sunni minority in
predominantly Shiite Iran was granted full political rights.
The Sunni group has been blamed for a string of attacks and kidnappings in
Sistan-Baluchestan province, which is home to a large ethnic Baluch
community and is on the border with Pakistan.
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Iran tests new missile from warship
07/12/2008
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's military test-fired
a new surface-to-surface missile from a warship as part of exercises along a
strategic shipping route, state media reported on Sunday.
Iran launched six days of naval war games on Tuesday in the Sea of Oman and
the Gulf region amid tension with the United States and Israel, which have
not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end a row over Tehran's
nuclear work.
Iran has said that, if pushed, it could close the Strait of Hormuz at the
entrance to the Gulf and through which about 40 percent of the world's
traded oil passes.
"The surface-to-surface Nasr-2 missile was tested in the (Sea of) Oman
operational region," state radio reported, adding that the test took place
on Saturday.
"The Nasr-2 was fired from a warship and hit its target at a distance of 30
km (19 miles) and destroyed it," the official news agency IRNA said, adding
it was the first test of the new, medium-range missile.
The West accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear warheads, a charge Tehran
denies. It insists that it wants to master nuclear technology to generate
electricity so that it can export more of its huge oil and gas reserves.
Washington, which has its navy Fifth Fleet based in the Gulf Arab state of
Bahrain, has pledged to keep shipping lanes open. Experts say Iran's navy
would be no match for U.S. technology but could still create havoc in the
waterway.