Ahwazi Child Killed by Iranian Police Fire in Al-Howeyzeh
The Patriotic Arab Democratic movement in Ahwaz (PADMAZ) condemns in the strongest terms the killing of an Ahwazi Arab child by Iranian police forces in the city of Al-Howeyzeh, north-west of Ahwaz.
According to reports from the Ahwazi Source, an human rights organisatinon, seven-year-old Zolfaghar Sharifi son of bin Nabi was fatally shot on the evening of Friday, 17 October 2025, when Iranian police opened direct fire on a civilian car carrying his family near the village of Beit Kaw’war in Al-Howeyzeh. His sister was also seriously injured in the same attack.
Eyewitnesses reported that police officers opened fire indiscriminately at the vehicle at a makeshift checkpoint without any prior warning, killing the child instantly before his family’s eyes. The tragic scene reflects the Iranian regime’s utter disregard for the lives of Ahwazi civilians, particularly children.
This heinous crime comes amid an escalating campaign of military and security repression against the Ahwazi Arab people across cities and villages, where Iranian occupation forces continue to employ systematic violence, arbitrary arrests, and summary executions in an attempt to silence voices calling for freedom, justice, and dignity.
On Saturday, 4 October 2025, Iranian authorities executed six prominent Ahwazi activists following grossly unfair trials that lacked even the most basic standards of justice. Just days later, on Wednesday, 15 October, Hassan Al-Saedi, a 34-year-old Ahwazi citizen, died in an Iranian prison only three days after his arrest — yet another crime in the regime’s long record of human rights violations against the Ahwazi people.
The Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz (PADMAZ) holds the Iranian regime fully responsible for this deliberate targeting of innocent civilians and children, and calls upon international organisations, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, UNICEF, and major Western human rights bodies, to take immediate action by launching an independent and transparent investigation into this crime and ending the impunity of Iranian security forces.
PADMAZ warns that the continuation of such crimes under a climate of international silence and lack of accountability only encourages the regime to commit further atrocities against the Ahwazi Arab people and other non-Persian nations.
The Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz reaffirms its commitment to the just struggle of the Ahwazi people — legally, politically, and morally — to expose the crimes of Iranian occupation before the international community, until justice is achieved and oppression is lifted from the innocent.
Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz (PADMAZ)
18 October 2025