Ethnic politics of Khuzestan: Encyclopedia II - Ethnic politics of Khuzestan - April 2005 riots

Ethnic politics of Khuzestan - April 2005 riots

In April 2005, riots broke out in several Khuzestani cities, following the circulation of a letter marked "top secret" from President Khatami's office and written in 1999, which was broadcast on Al-Jazeera and Al-Ahwaz television stations. The letter outlined a plan to encourage Persians to settle in Khuzestan, thereby changing the ethnic composition of the province. Central government officials say that the letter is a blatant forgery. Nevertheless, Arab youths rioted and some four hundred were arrested in Ahvaz. [30]

Government officials say that the youth were misled by foreign agitators, with accusations made against Saudi Arabia, Canada and the United Kingdom. On 26 April 2005, the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Rapporteur Kazem Jalali accused British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of interfering in Khuzestan and backing Arab opposition parties, which are illegal in Iran. This claim followed revelations that Straw had met with an Iranian Arab exile in March. Given that fomenting internal unrest is a millennia-old, tried-and-true technique for subverting enemy regimes, it is possible that this claim is true. It is also true that in many cases unrest has been blamed on outside agitators even though no foreigners were involved; most governments do not wish to believe that their policies could be contributing to internal unrest. There were also claims that the letter was published by a political faction to influence the outcome of the presidential elections.

Members of the Majlis, the Iranian Parliament, have raised concerns that ethnic tensions and the violent clashes in April 2005 are the result of economic inequalities and the lingering effects of the Iran-Iraq war. A petition signed by 180 Iranian MPs was sent to President Khatami condemning the behaviour of "executive officials," who they claim have failed in their duties to Iran's Arab population and have done little to address the root socio-economic causes that led to the uprising. Many MPs were unhappy at the government crack-down against Arab demonstrators in Khuzestan following the riots, indicating that the Iranian establishment was divided on policies towards the Arab minority and that the issue of ethnic minorities was assuming a higher priority ahead of the presidential elections.

Prominent Iranian Arab journalist Yusef Azizi Bani-Torof was also arrested on 25 April 2005 at his home in Tehran, in connection with the riots. He was released without charge in June 2005.[31]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "April 2005 riots", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki