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<\/p>\nAs much as half of Iran\u2019s population is believed to belong to ethnic or religious minorities. Despite constitutional guarantees of equality and Iran\u2019s international legal commitments, discrimination and repression of minority communities, who have been demanding greater respect for their cultural and political rights, has intensified in recent years, notably since the election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.<\/p>\n
In one word, it can be said that “Mahsa” is the code name for the movement\u2019s fight against “all-round discrimination and oppression” in Iran. Over its\u00a044 years of oppressive rule, the Islamic Republic regime has allowed clear discrimination in the following fields:<\/p>\n
1- Women and girls<\/p>\n
2- Ethnic minorities (for example Kurdish, Balouch, Arab, Turkemen, Azeri, etc.)<\/p>\n
3- Religious minorities (Sunnies, Bahais, Jewish, Zoroastrians, Gonabadi dervishes, Kurdish Ahl-e Haq, \u00a0Christian converts and atheists)<\/p>\n
4- Gender and sexual minorities (LGBTQ community)<\/p>\n
5- Guilds and unions (journalists, workers, teachers, lawyers, athletes, artists, IT activists and others)<\/p>\n
6- Environmental, Human right and children\u2019s rights activists<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
more than 10000 Iranian from different European countries marched in Brussels. \u00a9 Lailuma Sadid<\/em><\/pre>\nThe issue of ethnic and religious pluralism in all countries has been one of the main concerns of politicians, and when this issue is linked to national security, it becomes extremely important and sensitive. The Islamic Republic contends that the existence of ethnic differences can always potentially be the source of temporary tensions or the formation of separatist factions with long-term consequences for national security. Therefore, the regime always tries to suppress these minorities and keep them in poverty and unemployment.<\/p>\n
Dozens of Iranian (Baloch and non-Baloch) \u201cfuel carriers\u201d and goods transporters in the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan,\u00a0 Kerman, Hormozgan and Kurdistan are killed every year after being fired on by IRGC agents. These people are technically smugglers. They smuggle hugely subsidised items such as petrol to neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Turkey to sell at a higher price, which is against the law. Therefore the “fuel carrier” euphemism is used in Persian to contradict the government’s harsh rhetoric. Why? For many people in these areas, this is the only way to earn a living, as there are very few legal employment opportunities.<\/p>\n
With its roughly 700 km of coastline and rich natural resources the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan stands out in the region for its strategic geopolitical importance.\u00a0 Yet, in Iran, the Baloch people are systematically deprived of education, health, economic and cultural infrastructure:<\/p>\n
\n
- Many Baloch patients have to travel to neighbouring provincial hospitals for treatment. The highest level of maternal and paediatricmortality in Iran is found in Balochistan.<\/li>\n
- Due to insufficient educational facilities and teaching staff, annually about one hundred thousand Baloch children cannot attend school and a high number leave education, while the remaining students\u2019 educational attainment in general is much lower than the country\u2019s average<\/li>\n
- The highest levels of unemployment and people living below the absolute poverty line in Iran is recorded in Balochistan.<\/li>\n
- In many areas of Balochistan people do not have clean drinking water and many children have died drowning in rainwater collection pools called \u201cHOT\u2019AK\u201d.<\/li>\n
- Due to governmental demographic changes, about 100,000 Baloch are deprived of having birth certificates and are stateless.<\/li>\n
- Based on an Amnesty International report, over 30% of people executed (mostly on drug trafficking charges, as a result of the province bordering both Afghanistan and Pakistan which are the source of opium and heroin) belong to the Baloch ethnic group while they only make up 4-5% of Iran\u2019s population.<\/li>\n
- On Friday 31 September 2022 more than a hundred peaceful protesters were shot to death and several hundred were injured in just one hour. Over 20 of those killed in the protests were children under 18. Baloch were killed, wounded, arrested and suppressed more violently than anywhere else in Iran, although other minorities like Kurds will contest this claim.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Kurds are estimated to constitute as much as 10% of the population of Iran and originate from different groups of people with various linguistic and cultural backgrounds. They are mostly settled along Iran\u2019s borders with Iraq and Turkey.<\/p>\n
Iranian Kurds, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, face discrimination because of their religion, even though Sunni Islam is recognized and accorded formal legal standing in Iran. The religious institutions of Sunni Kurds are generally blocked, while those of Shi\u2019as are encouraged and supported by the state. There is not a single Sunni mosque in Tehran and, according to reports; the government has restricted the expansion of Sunni mosques that exist elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n
Other religious groups include the mainly Kurdish Ahl-e Haq, most of whose members live in Kermanshah and in or around the big cities. Their faith, which shares aspects of Islam\u2019s tenets, embodies Kurdish religious identity. The Ahl-e Haq are not recognized under Iranian law and their rituals are prohibited. They are also banned from discussing their faith with the media. In recent years senior state officials have required school heads to report whether there are any members of \u201csubversive sects\u201d among staff or students and reminded the heads that \u201cany activity and propaganda\u201d by members of these groups \u201cis forbidden\u201d.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the Iranian Islamic regime does not have an acceptable report card when it comes to religious minorities. Just on 8 May, the authorities executed Yousef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare by hanging for crimes including blasphemy, insulting the religion of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and other “sanctities,” the judiciary’s Mizan website reported.<\/p>\n
The Baha\u2019is, Iran\u2019s largest non-Muslim religious minority, are routinely arrested, detained, and imprisoned. They are barred from holding government jobs, and their shops and other enterprises are routinely closed or discriminated against by officials at all levels. Young Baha\u2019is are prevented from attending university, and volunteer Baha\u2019i educators who have sought to fill that gap have been arrested and imprisoned.<\/p>\n
Added to that, the government does not let them bury their dead in their own Golestan cemeteries and according to the reports, Iranian Security officers buried six Bahi people in unmarked graves in Khavaran cemetery without letting them carry out their religious ceremonies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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