More than two weeks of widespread protests in 57 cities of Iran; A report on the uprisings in Khuzestan and the afterward protests in other provinces
3-August-2021
Category: ethnic minorities، Freedom of Expression، Prisoners
2-August-2021
Newsgroup: Freedom of Expression – Ethnic Minorities – Prisoners –
Breathing in Confinement: On Thursday, July 15, 2021, people in various cities in Khuzestan staged rallies to protest the water crisis. From Thursday evening, people took to the streets in the cities of Susangerd, Mahshahr, Ahvaz, Abadan, Bostan, Hamidiyeh, Zoviyeh alley and Dasht-e Azadegan. The protesters faced the heavy presence of security agents and police forces who opened fire on them.
The incompetent and corrupted authorities destroyed the water resources of Khuzestan, and made most of the rivers lagoons and wetlands, including the Hur al-Azim lagoon to dry out, which in addition to drought, caused the death of livestock as the only source of income for many people in the region. The situation is so harsh as in some parts of Khuzestan there is no even healthy water to drink. Whereas since years, environmental activists had repeatedly warned the officials of the Islamic Republic about the water crisis and its consequences.
The protest against water crisis in Khuzestan province continued for more than two weeks. Despite the presence of the security forces and dispatch of a large number of repressive counterinsurgency agents, daily protests continued for 16 days in more than 30 cities in Khuzestan province. Reports from local sources indicate that hundreds of protesters were wounded and that many others, especially young protesters were detained.
According to “Breathing in Confinement”, some of the protesters who were shot by repressive forces did not go to the hospitals for fear of arrest which in many cases worsened their condition and even led to their death.
As per the Amnesty International, during the protests, security forces opened fire on people, using live bullets as well as birdshots.
Reports received to “Breathing in Confinement” indicated disruption of Wi-Fi Internet and the complete shutdown of mobile Internet services in the cities where the protests took place. “Although the home internet in Ahvaz was not completely cut off, its speed was so low that it was impossible to connect to social media,” said one of the residents in Khuzestan.
On the second day of protests in Shadegan, a young protester named Mustafa Naeemawi was shot dead and a 10-year-old child was wounded.
Despite the high security state in Khuzestan and the sounds of gunfire in several areas, people took to the streets chanting “I am thirsty,” “Water is my right,” and “What happened to Hur al-Azim?” “Where is our water?” and “People want the overthrow of the regime”.
Amnesty International has confirmed the identities of eight protesters killed during the uprisings in Khuzestan whose names are as follows:
Mustafa Asakereh (Naimawi) from Shadegan,
Qasim Naseri (Khadiri) from Kut Abdullah,
Isa Baldi from the city of Kure (Taleghani)
Meysam Echrash from the city of Kure (Taleghani)
Hamzeh (Farzad) Frisat from Ahvaz
Mehdi Chenani in Shush,
Hamid Mojaddam (Jokari) in Chamran,
And a teenage boy named Hadi Bahmani in Izeh.
Local sources, however, believe that the death toll is far more than this, but internet outages in the area have so far prevented their name to be announced.
On July 21, NetBlocks the organization that monitors cybersecurity and the governance of the Internet, announced that during the uprisings in Khuzestan, widespread internet disruptions happened in Iran since Thursday, July 15, 2021, which is still ongoing.
From the first days of the protests, the people of neighboring provinces, including Lorestan and Bushehr staged protest rallies to support the uprisings in Khuzestan. Subsequently, in at least 19 cities in 11 provinces, people took to the streets to support the people of Khuzestan and to protest the country’s current situation. In addition to supporting the people of Khuzestan, people in various cities chanted slogans against Ali Khamenei and the entire regime of the Islamic Republic.
Tehran, Tabriz, Karaj, Gohardasht, Fardis, Robat Karim, Saveh Road, Bushehr, Bandar-e Genaveh, Meybod, Yazdanshahr, Isfahan, Junaqan and Ardabil were among the cities where protest rallies took place.
The protests were dealt with violent clashes, and a large number of citizens were arrested. So far, 20 people have been arrested in Kurdistan province, from whom only 15 have been identified. A large number of protesters also were detained in Tabriz as well as other cities in Azerbaijan.
On July 30, 2021, mothers of some of the protesters killed in the November 2019 uprisings gathered in Azadi Square to support the people of Khuzestan. The protesting mothers were detained in the subway of Tehran and transferred to the detention center on Vozara Street, from where they were released after a few hours.
On the same day, people in Tehran, Isfahan and Ahvaz also took to the streets under the pretext of celebrating the wining of the Persepolis football team and chanted slogans against the government. People in Tehranpars chanted slogans against Ali Khamenei. In Golestan districts in Tehran, people chanted: “So many years of crimes! Death to Khamenei.”
In Ahvaz, on July 29, protesters set fire to a statue of Khamenei standing in front of the seminary in Ahvaz.
During the protests, many actors, cinema activists, artists, athletes and various groups of people supported the uprisings in Khuzestan and condemned the violent treatment of the protesters by the Islamic Republic security forces.
In separate statements, Teachers’ Union in Hamadan, Teachers’ Union in Tehran, Human Rights Watch, Center for Human Rights Defenders, Amnesty International, more than 230 lawyers, 330 artists and celebrities, more than one hundred and thirty documentarians, , a group of political, social, trade union and human rights activists and a number of artists from Fars province supported the people of Khuzestan.
The Iranian actor Hamed Behdad condemned the violent treatment of people via a post on Instagram.
In addition, a number of film and television artists assembled in front of the Artists’ House in Tehran to support the protests in Khuzestan.
Before the match against Mes-e Rafsanjan, the players of Sanat Naft Abadan football team, raising a banner, expressed their protest against the critical conditions in Khuzestan as well as the water shortage.
Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh, a former player of the Iranian national football team, via a post on his Instagram page supported the people of Khuzestan. He wrote: “The people of Khuzestan need water, reach out these people.”
Maziar Zare, the head coach of Malavan Bandar Anzali football team, Mohammad Nourizad, a civil activist imprisoned in Evin prison who is currently on medical leave, and Adel Ferdowsipour supported the protesting people of Khuzestan.
The officials of Islamic Republic, however, gave contradictory comments.
The governor of Khuzestan initially claimed that the situation in Khuzestan was fake. He said: “Some people are trying to instigate the people by posting fake photos and videos on social media. For example, no protests have taken place in the cities of Khorramshahr and Susangerd.”
Fereydoun Bandari, the acting governor of Mahshahr Port, reduced the uprisings to the gathering of some teenagers. He claimed: “Blocking the roads between Mahshahr Port and ‘Imam Khomeini’ Port is not a serious problem. A number of teenagers did this following a call on social media, in reaction to water shortage.” Contrary to him, however, the head of the Security Council of Dasht-e Azadegan claimed that the detained protesters had been released on the order of the head of the judiciary.
The police commander of Khuzestan province also claimed: “The security forces will deal decisively with those who create insecurity and disturb the order, as well as those who are willing to endanger the security of the people in any way.” His remarks added to concerns about increasing detentions.
So far, no statistics have been released by the authorities of the Islamic Republic on the number and identity of the detainees.
Confirming the death of a young protester, the acting governor of Shadegan attributed his death to “opportunistic rioters”. He said: “Identifying the perpetrators of this incident is on the agenda of police and security forces.”
Abdullah Izadpanah, Chairman of the Association of Members of Parliament from Khuzestan, referring to the implementation of the projects to divert water from Khuzestan to the central regions of Iran, said: “Water diversion has caused Khuzestan to fall in this dire situation.” He added: “Khuzestan pays the price for thoughtless and wrong decisions of the government which we must stop, because Khuzestan is being destroyed.”
After a large number of people killed or wounded in the protests, the governor of Khuzestan said: “We must work around the clock to address people’s concerns.” A provincial security official also said that it would take “another 10 to 15 days” to supply drinking water to some parts of the province.
According to ISNA news agency, the governor of Khuzestan, Qassem Soleimani Dashtaki, said on July 17, that although water piping has been installed in some areas, but because the wells were dried out, and also due to some technical and infrastructural problems, the water was not supplied to the network and the shortage of drinking water continued.
Hassan Rouhani also blaming the farmers for the water crisis said: “Despite our advice on avoidance of rice cultivation, the people in Khuzestan have been cultivating rice for many years, and this has exacerbated the problem. These went hand in hand to get people into trouble.”
With the protests spreading to Tehran and chanting slogans against Ali Khamenei and the whole government, Hamidreza Goodarzi, the deputy governor of Tehran, said about the protests: “The rally was held due to a power outage in the mall, and the reason for the power outage is under investigation. After the mall’s power was cut off, the gathering took place between 11:45 and 12:45 and then ended. There is no gathering currently, and the situation is normal.”
Despite the release of videos from the protest rallies by hundreds of people in Tehran, Fars News Agency, close to the IRGC, publishing a short video of the rallies, claimed that the participants were just about 50 shopkeepers from Aladdin Mall and that the only reason for their rally was a 2-hour power outage. Contrary to this, however, the governor of Tehran, Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpei said that the police were seeking to identify the instigators of the protest rallies.
According to local sources in the cities of Khuzestan, most of the detainees are children and adolescents. The member of parliament from Ahvaz, Seyyed Karim Hosseini, confirming the arrests, said: “There are no exact statistics on the number of children and adolescents arrested in the recent protests! However, what we are currently pursuing is the release of detained protesters of all ages who have not committed a crime. ”
Below are the names of more than one hundred detainees in various cities of Khuzestan and Azerbaijan, which have been collected with the help of local sources:
The City of Ahvaz:
1- Seyyed Ali Sharifi arrested on July 10, 1400; in the gathering held in front of the governor’s office.
2- Fahd Obaidavi, Son of Rahim, was arrested on July 10th.
3- Ismail Obaidavi, son of Rahim, a resident of Zahirieh Alley (Goldasht) in Ahvaz, was arrested on July 10.
4- Issa Mazraeh, son of Abdolsadeh, from Zoviyeh alley in Ahvaz, was arrested on July 16.
5- Mohammad Sakhravi, 23, resident of Goldasht alley in Ahvaz.
6- Bassem Heydari, 20, resident of Goldasht alley in Ahvaz.
7- Hassan Saeedi, 30, resident of Goldasht alley in Ahvaz.
8- Abbas Savari, son Naji from Goldasht alley in Ahvaz.
9- Amer Zuhairi, 18, son of Khalaf, arrested on July 17 in Ein 2 area of Ahvaz.
10- Hamoud Chanani, 19, son of Salem from the Ein 2 area of Ahvaz, was arrested on July 17th.
11- Hamoud Shamousi, 18, from Ein 2 area of Ahvaz, was arrested on July 17.
12- Majed Hamidi, 30, from Meleh Thani town
13- Bassam Zargani, son of Hamidan from Zargan region, was arrested on July 21, 2021.
14- Abbas Zargani, 27, from Zargan region, was arrested on July 21, 2021.
15- Nasser Zargani, 27, the son of Shaalan from Zargan region, was arrested on July 21, 2021.
16- Mohammad Askari, 29, son of Ali, from Zargan region, was arrested on July 21, 2021.
17- Ali Kaab Al-Haei, 50, resident of Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra) in Ahvaz, was arrested on July 20, 2021.
18- Fallah Chaldavi, 20, son of Hassan, Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra), married, with a history of previous imprisonment, was arrested on July 21.
19- Milad Savari from Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra), was arrested on the night of July 20, 2021.
20- Meysam Savari from Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra), was arrested on the night of July 20, 2021.
21_Ahmad Savari, son of Abdul Ali Shamil, from Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra), was arrested on the night of July 20, 2021.
22- Raad Heydari, son of Rahim, from Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra), was arrested on the night of July 21, 2021.
23- Fahd Heydari, son of Rahim, from Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra), was arrested on the night of July 21, 2021.
24- Mohammad Kroshat, a resident of Alavi alley (Hay al-Thawra). He is wounded.
The City of Bostan
25- Malik Chaldavi, 28, was arrested on July 19.
26- Jassem Chaldavi, 35, was arrested on July 19.
27- Milad Obaidavi, 14, was arrested on July 19.
28- Faraj Obaidai, 40, was arrested on July 19.
The City of Hamidiyeh
29- Razi Dahimawi, son of Abdul Zahra, was arrested on July 21, along with his son.
30- Mahmoud Saedi was arrested on July 22nd.
31- Abbas Saedi was arrested on July 22nd.
31- Sadegh Abiat was arrested on July 22nd.
33- Qasem Saedi was arrested on July 22nd.
34- Tayban Saedi was arrested on July 22nd.
35- Rasoul Sawadi was arrested on July 22nd.
36- Sadegh Saedi was arrested on July 22nd.
The city of Susangerd
37- Falak Amouri was arrested on July 22, 2021.
38- Khalid Amouri was arrested on July 22, 2021.
39- Muslim Achar was arrested on July 22, 2021.
40- Ali Amori arrested on July 22, 2021.
41- Mohammad Amouri arrested on July 22, 2021.
42- Khalid Amouri arrested on July 22, 2021.
43- Javad Jaberi arrested on 31 July 2021.
44-Hamed Khaledi arrested on July 22, 2021.
45-Salah Khaledi arrested on July 22, 2021.
46-Farzad Atabi arrested on July 22, 2021
47- Muhammad al-Bushoka arrested on July 22, 2021.
48- Haidar al-Bushoka arrested on July 22, 2021.
49- Majid Mousavi arrested on July 22, 2021.
50- Sajjad Mousavi arrested on July 22, 2021.
51- Ahmad Asli arrested on July 22, 2021.
52- Mehdi Hamid was arrested on July 19, 2021.
53- Omid Tusi was arrested on July 20, 2021.
54- Jassem Tusi was arrested on July 20, 2021.
55- Mehdi Zoghibi was arrested on July 20, 2021.
56- Hassan Amori was arrested on July 20, 2021.
The City of Shavour
57- Ali Khosraji was arrested on July 21, 2021.
58- Hassan Mohsen Zidan was arrested on July 21, 2021.
59- Ali Mohsen Zidan was arrested on July 21, 2021.
60-Jamil Obaidavi was arrested on July 21, 2021.
61- Saleh Obaidavi was arrested on July 21, 2021.
62- Ali Kaabi, Haidar’s son, was arrested on July 21, 2021.
63- Ali Agbi from Beit Khalaf village
Sedeh area in the City of Shavour
64-Khalid Mazrae, son of Navir, was arrested on July 17th, 2021.
65-Ali Mazraeh, son of Shaei, was arrested on July 17th, 2021.
66- Qasem Mazraeh, son of Amer, was arrested on July 17th, 2021.
67- Faisal Mazraeh was arrested on July 17th, 2021.
68- Mehdi Khosraji, son of Majid, was arrested on July 17th, 2021.
69- Abdullah Obaidawi, son of Mardav, was arrested on July 17th, 2021.
70- Seyyed Hassoun Iraqi was arrested on July 22nd, 2021.
71- Mohammad Kaabi, son of Fakher, was arrested on July 22nd, 2021.
72- Hossein Shomali was arrested on July 22nd, 2021.
73- Ali Kaabi, Khaidar’s son, was arrested on July 22nd, 2021.
74- Ayyoub Abboud al-Namnum, a 12-year-old boy, was arrested on July 22nd, 2021.
The City of Khafajieh (Susangerd)
75- Mansour Jalali, 17, son of Mohammad, was arrested on July 20, 2021.
76- Mojtaba Salehi, 18, son of Mohammad, was arrested on July 20, 2021.
77- Reza Afravi, 24, son of Abbas, was arrested on July 20, 2021.
78- Hamzeh Afravi, 26, son of Majid, was arrested on July 20, 2021.
79- Abdul Amir (Abu Yahya) Jalali, 45, was arrested on July 20, 2021.
80- Adel Naderi, 40, was arrested on July 20, 2021.
81- Ismail Jalali, 40, son of Hassan, was arrested on July 21, 2021.
82- Emad Abiat, son of Rahim, born in 1993.
83- Ayad Abiat, son of Rahim, born in 1990.
84- Mohammad Harizavi, son of Badr, 24 years old.
85- Hossein Manshadavi, 22, son of Abdolreza.
86- Nader Abiat.
The city of Alhaei
87- Abbas Alhaei, 19, son of Malik, was arrested on July 22, 2021.
88- Amir Alhaei, 28, son of Khalaf, married, father of one, was arrested on July 22, 2021.
89- Mubarak Al-Hai, 45, son of Vahid, married, father of three, was arrested on July 22, 2021.
90- Abbas Khoin Vahid, 30, was arrested on July 22, 2021.
91- Abdul Razzaq Vahid, 36, married, was arrested on July 22, 2021.
The city of Khorramshahr
92- Mansour Soleimani, son of Yaber, resident of Al-Jadeeda district, was arrested on July 18, 2021.
93- Darem Soleimani, son of Hasoud, resident of Al-Jadeeda district, was arrested on July 18, 2021.
94- Abdul Reza Soleimani, son of Yaber, resident of Al-Jadeeda district, was arrested on July 18, 2021.
95-Yarullah Soleimani, resident of Al-Jadeeda, was arrested on July 18, 2021.
96- Ali Soleimani, son of Yarallah, resident of Al-Jadeeda district, was arrested on July 18, 2021.
97- Bassem Soleimani, son of Nasser, was arrested on July 18, 2021.
98- Ali Soleimani Tamimi was arrested on July 18, 2021.
99- Ali Abdul Hussein Gatafeh, resident of Al-Jadeeda, was arrested on July 18, 2021.
The City of Tabriz
100-Shahin Barzegar, was arrested on July 22, 2021, and transferred to Tabriz Intelligence Office.
101-Mojtaba Abdoli, was arrested on July 22, 2021, in Bostanabad, Tabriz.
102- Shahrooz Barzegar was arrested on July 24, 2021.
103- Yousef Salahshour was arrested on July 25, 2021 and transferred to Tabriz Intelligence Office.
104-Olduz Ghasemi, was released on bail.
105-Saleh Ekrami (resident of Nasim Shahr, Tehran), arrested at his workplace on July 27, 2021.
106-Babak Rezaei (resident of Nasim Shahr, Tehran), arrested at his home on July 27, 2021.
107- Davood Rahimi, was arrested on July 24, and released on July 27, on bail of 40 million Tomans.
108- Vahid Abhari was arrested by security forces in Tabriz on July 22, 2021.
109- Mohammad Mahmoudi was arrested on July 24, and released on July 26, on bail of 30 million Tomans.
110- Hadi Mohammadi was arrested on July 24, and released on July 27, 2021, on bail of 30 million Tomans.
111- Vahid Mohammadi was arrested on July 24, and released on July 28, 2021, on bail of 30 million Tomans.
112- Hossein Gharachehdaghi was arrested on July 24, and released on July 28, 2021, on bail of 30 million Tomans.
113-Javad Dehghan was arrested on July 24, and released on July 28, 2021, on bail of 30 million Tomans.
114- Amir Sattari was arrested on July 22, 2021.
115- Reza Shahrivar, was arrested on 25 July 2021.
116- Mohammad Kazemi, was arrested on 25 July 2021.
117- Ashkan Saadat Mehr was arrested on July 23, in Urmia and released in the last hours of the same day.
118-Akbar Gholizadeh was arrested on July 23, in Urmia and released in the last hours of the same day.
119-Karim Esmailzadeh was arrested on Saturday, July 24 and released on bail on July 27, 2021.
120-Parviz Siabi Gorjan has been arrested since July 25.
121- Nader Sadeghian was arrested at his home on July 26, 2021.
122-Rahim Sasani was arrested on July 22 and released after interrogation and after search of his home on July 23, 2021.
123-Yashar Piri was arrested on July 22 and released after interrogation and after search of his home on July 23, 2021.
124-Sadollah Sassani was arrested on July 22 and released after interrogation and after search of his home on July 23, 2021.
125-Mohsen Abbaspour was arrested on July 22 and released after interrogation and after search of his home on July 23, 2021.
126-Mohammad Pour-Ali was arrested on July 22 and released after interrogation and after search of his home on July 23, 2021.
127- Mohammad Mardi was arrested at his home on July 26, 2021.
Undoubtedly, the number of detainees is much higher than this. In the atmosphere of repression and oppression in the cities of Iran however, access to the information about the detainees is very difficult.
From the first day of the protests, the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, citing the history of Islamic Republic officials in extrajudicial killings and detentions, called on the international authorities, including the UN Human Rights Council as well as UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights, to save the lives of detainees and wounded protesters, specially those who refuse to go the hospital for fear of arrest. The League calls for immediate action to urge the authorities of the Islamic Republic to announce the numbers and identities of the detainees as well as the killed protesters.