PADMAZ issues a statement condemning the trial of Habib Chaab

In recent weeks, the Iranian government has unleashed massive propaganda campaign targeting the Swedish-Ahwazi citizen Habib Farajollah Chaab (known as Habib Aseiwed). In the vitriolic attack, not only Habib Chaab but also the entire civil movement of Ahwaz has been targeted. Relying on its domestic and foreign mercenaries, the Iranian government is trying to harm the civil movement and the rightful demands of the Ahwazi people.

We in the (PADMAZ), from the very beginning of the attack on the parade in the city of Ahwaz in 2018, declared that it was a false-flag orchestrated by the Iran regime itself to target the entire Ahwazi movement. Evidence suggests that this attack was quite similar to the fabricated ISIS attack on the parliament in Tehran. At that time, we introduced a rap sheet of terrorist attacks planned and carried out by the regime in the whole Middle East, including in Ahwaz, Iraq, Lebanon, in addition to Argentina and Europe.

The abduction of Habib Chaab by Iran government, which took place in Turkey, is a clear example of the regime’s state-sponsored terrorism. In addition, the brutal torture of Habib Chaab, confessions taken under duress, the lack of access to an impartial and competent lawyer, not allowing the Swedish embassy officials to meet with Habib, and the lack of all requirements of a fair trial point to the illegitimacy of the Iranian legal system and judiciary.

The involvement of regime-controlled media, including Iran’s state broadcaster, newspapers, media, and local publications, in launching this attack to justify the Iranian government’s atrocities in the abduction of Habib Chaab and his unfair trial is nothing new. However, the recent propaganda attack is very overwhelming comparing to the previous state media outlets—like Press TV—involvement in the execution of Ahwazi activists.

This propaganda-show is so ridiculous that the regime-appointed lawyer for Habib Chaab himself has openly stood on the side of the Iranian government and implicitly accepted the confessions obtained under torture in the media, declaring that there is no need to defend the accused Habib Chaab.

What exposes the dangerous dimensions of this propaganda campaign against the Ahwazi civil movement is the involvement of regime’s mercenaries based in the Western countries in this scheme. Dozens of Persian media reporters in so-called opposition networks have directly or indirectly participated in the regime’s plan. These so-called journalists use the freedom of expression available in the Western countries to spread false and biased news, in order to justify the regime’s extrajudicial killings and to direct the accusations against the entire civil movement of Ahwazi people. There is no doubt that these individuals and groups have a direct role in the execution and repression of Arab activists. The Ahwazi activists in diaspora are carefully monitoring their activities, and will follow the issue through the legal system in the Western counties.

They know very well that the people of Ahwaz have been fighting for more than 600 years to protect their homeland from the occupiers of the ruling dynasties in Iran. For the past 97 years, the people of Ahwaz have stood up against the Pahlavi regimes and the Islamic Republic by sacrificing thousands of lives in order to preserve their land and basic rights.

The Ahwazi People’s Movement have spared no effort on the path to achieving the right to self-determination, gaining political, social, cultural, and civil rights, elimination of the systematic discrimination, preservation of its lands, cessation of demographic change and forced displacement, defending the environment, release of the detainees, and the cessation of executions, all of which are basic human rights. In its struggle for almost a century, thousands of Ahwazis have lost their lives at the hands of the central governments of Iran.

The spread of this civil movement through the Ahwazi society and the continuation of Ahwazi uprisings have led to the Ahwaz being recognized as the center of popular uprisings in Iran. The Ahwazi uprisings in recent years have inspired other non-Persian nations to rise up against the brutal regime in Tehran. The new development has put Ahwaz in the core attention; they have disturbed the rulers in Tehran and other Iranian centralists who have been trying to accuse the Ahwazi activist of extremism and terrorism in an attempt to distort the civil and ethnic reality of the Ahwazi movement and its rightful demands.     

We in PADMAZ declare that the challenge of Iran’s central government in Ahwaz, from the occupation of Ahwaz in 1925 until today, is an ethno-national challenge which is a result of the forced dominance of the central government, dominated by mostly Persians, and the establishment of a fake Iran nation-state. We consider these actions of the Iranian government and Iranian centralists abroad as a step towards continuing the violation of the national rights of the Ahwazi people. We believe that freedom of expression in the Western countries should not become an opportunity for Iran regime and its mercenaries abroad to violate human rights in Ahwaz.

We in PADMAZ, while condemning Iran regime’s efforts in targeting Ahwazis and other non-Persian activists, call on the international community, especially the EU countries, Canada, Australia, and the United States, to provide the security of pro-decentralization activists from Iran, who have sought refuge in Western countries, by putting enormous pressure on this terrorist regime.

The PADMAZ urges Sweden to step up its efforts for the unconditional release of Habib Chaab and to spare no effort in this regard.

We also call on all international human rights institutions and organizations, especially the UN Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Mr. Javid Rahman, to take the necessary steps to secure the release of Mr. Habib Chaab, by issuing statements and using international pressure on Iran regime.

PADMAZ, while re-condemning the kidnapping and assassination of Ahwazi activists and activists from other oppressed peoples by the Iranian regime, declares that the responsibility for preserving the life and health of Mr. Habib Farajollah Chaab rests with the Iranian government. Considering the grim record of this government in obtaining confessions under torture, we declare that according to the international law, Mr. Chaab’s trial is void and this farce trial is neither valid nor legal.

Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz (PADMAZ)

31/01/2022