Ahvaz Protests of 1384 · E'terazat-e Ahvaz

Culture of origin: Arab · Historical

Holiday sources: Iran · Iranian Arab

In April 2005 a letter attributed to Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, President Khatami's chief of staff, spread in Khuzestan; it called for bringing the province's Arabs down to a third of its Persian speakers within ten years and moving other Iranians in. Abtahi and the government called it forged. Arabs protested in Ahvaz and other towns for four days from 15 April and were put down hard. The interior ministry admitted one death; a hospital official spoke of 15 to 20; residents and government critics told Human Rights Watch of at least 50 killed by the security forces, and Amnesty International had unconfirmed reports of at least 29 dead and up to 500 injured. The anniversary became a day of protest. On 14 and 15 April 2011 a 'day of anger' called for it spread from Ahvaz to Hamidiyeh, Mahshahr, Shadegan, Abadan and Khorramshahr; security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at largely peaceful protesters, and several hundred protesters and activists were arrested. One rights group gave Human Rights Watch the names of 27 people the security forces had killed, the Ahwazi Organization for the Defense of Human Rights counted 48, and Shirin Ebadi wrote of more than 12. Ahead of the tenth anniversary, in 2015, Amnesty International reported at least 78 arrests since mid-March; a friend of one activist said the authorities had arrested him before the April anniversary every year since 2005.