Written statement on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world.

(www.radicalparty.org) DOCUMENTS ON: EGYPT / DOC.TYPE: U.N./DOCUMENTS

22/06/2006 | Written statement on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world.

On December 24, 2005, Dr. Ayman Nour, leader of Egypt's Al-Ghad ("Tomorrow") liberal party, which had come second in the September 2005 Egyptian presidential elections, was convicted by a civil court in Cairo of forging documents empowering him to establish his party, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

Ayman Nour was born in 1964 in Al-Mansoura, Egypt and founded and leads the new liberal and democratic party Al-Ghad, which stands for democracy, human and political rights. For the last few years, Dr. Ayman Nour and his party members have been harassed and intimidated by the Egyptian authorities. This persecution culminated in his arrest and trial.

Dr. Nour's sentence sparked highly critical reactions amongst intellectuals and politicians in Egypt, in the Arab media as well as in the United States and Europe. Several commentators have alleged that the arrest was the result of a political monoeuvre aiming at clearing the way for Gamal Mubarak to succeed his father as president of Egypt with no rivals. Several Arab Human Rights organizations believe that Mr. Nour's trial was unfair, pointing out that the presiding judge was the same judge who had handed down harsh sentences against a number of human rights activists, including Dr. Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim.

It is clear that Dr. Nour's sentence has been issued to intimidate any Egyptian who wishes to take part in Egyptian political activity participating in a non-violent fashion in the democratic process colling for the opening up of the Society and the initiatiation of a reform process. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights expressed concern about the sentence, and demanded that Egypt's attorney general defer it.

The TRP believes that the crucial move towards a wider involvement of public opinion in the political life of Egypt should not be undermined by the political use of the Courts. It is of paramount importance that due process and fair trials become one of the pillars of public life in those countries that have staged elections. In this regard echoing them, the TRP wishes to bring to the attention of the Members of the Commission a recent resolution adopted by the European Parliament that among other things welcomed and supported “the worldwide calls to release Ayman Nour” and strongly urged “the Egyptian authorities to ensure that Ayman Nour is well treated and not subject to torture or other ill treatment and to further ensure that he is given prompt, regular and unrestricted access to his lawyers, doctors (as he is diabetic) and family. Democracy in the Middle East needs to be nurtured through a non-violent dialog and not imprisoned at the start.

More than five million indigenous Ahwazi Arabs live in the southwestern region of the Islamic Republic of Iran, mainly in the province of Khuzestan (or Al-Ahwaz). They are an indigenous, ethnic, national and a linguistic minority in Iran. the province of Khuzestan borders Iraq and is the area where 90% of Iran’s oil reserves are located, the population of Arab descent does not benefit from the oil revenues. Historically the Arab community has been marginalized and discriminated against.

The Islamic Republic government is in the midst of a ten year project of ethnic restructuring and confiscation of Arab land and is executing a forced resettlement policy to displace the Ahwazis out of Khuzesatn to settle “loyal” ethnic Persians on the expropriated Arab farmlands. Ahwazis are being perceived as disloyal, suspicious and a security risk, who some day may reclaim the oil rich land of Khuzestan.

In the past fifteen years alone, over 250,000 hectares of Ahwazi farmers land in regions of Jufir, Shosh, Hoizeh, Hamidieh have been forcefully confiscated and given to Persian settlers in violation of the article 4.5 of the United Nations Declaration on Minorities.

According to Iran’s restructuring policy, as outlined in a recently leaked internal secret document issued by the former president Khatami, the Iranian government is forcing displacement of Arabs to Isfahan, Tehran and Tabriz and other non-Arab provinces to reduce the Ahwazi Arab population from a 70% majority to a 1/3 minority in a period of 10 years or less. Toward execution of this policy, settlements such as Ramin-2, Shirin-Shahr, Sepidar and others have already been built- and over one million non-indigenous Persians have been moved to the region.

Ethnic Ahwazi children are being deprived from the use and study of their mother language and people are being denied participation in public life and in decisions affecting them. The illiteracy rate is 4 to 5 times higher than non-Arabs and unemployment is 4 times the national average.

The governor general of Khuzestan, all other province’s political, military and security commanders, officers, mayors and all high and mid-level government officials of Khuzestan, have consistently been appointed from non-Arabs outside of the native Arab population in violation of articles 2.2 and 2.3 of United Nations Declaration on Minorities, as well as articles 15 and 19 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic which allows for regional and local languages and a degree of self rule. This is a worrying violation of the civil and political rights of the Arab minority of Iran.

The regime erected dams on Karkhe and Karoon Rivers that passes through an entirely Arab areas and waters have been diverted to Persian provinces of Isfahan, Rfasanjan and Yazd.

The government is still holding hundreds of square kilometers of traditional land, which was occupied during the Iran-Iraq war along the border of Iraq while hundreds of thousand inhabitants of these areas still live in Mashhad, Shiraz, Karaj and Isfahan and are not permitted to return to their homes and villages.

On 15 April 2005, right after leakage of “Abtahi Letter” to the press, the TRP gathered reports over the internet on the provincial city of Ahwaz, that alleged the violent reaction of security forces that opened fire on thousands of peaceful demonstrators killing at least 61 men, women and children, injuring over 800 and arrested thousands. According to contact with local people the killing included at least 150. Additional reports, in particular documents circulated by Amnesty International have also denounced of torture or dozens of people. Mr. Yossef Azizi Banitoroof, a well-known indigenous Ahwazi writer, journalist and researcher has been detained in solitary jail in dire conditions and tortured for 61 days.

According to a recent Urgent Action by Amnesty International on 4/18/2005, Kazem Mojadam, Abdoulghader Hamadi, Mojahed Baldi, Salem Beradea, Nabi Manabi, Hassan Manabi, Sabri Houzedar Sefed, and at least 130 others all members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, were arbitrarily detained between 15-18 April.

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