SUSPICIOUS ACCIDENTS IN AHVAZ, IRAN
Three separate traffic accidents in the last
week of March were found suspicious in the Khuzastan
Province which has an intense Arab population and is a
target of terrorist attacks until 2005.
All traffic accidents that caused the loss
of 51 people as a result of tumble of three buses were
caused by the vehicles that were moving on Ahvaz-Susangerd
highway. The last accident was caused by unidentified people
who opened fire on the bus. According to the official
statement, the accidents were as a result of traffic jam and
carelessness and the above-mentioned routes were closed to
traffic until a second order.
The passengers in those buses were all
families of Basij and Revolutionary Guards and were on their
way to visit religious places. It is emphasized that the
death of Arab activists Nazem Hashemi, Taher Aslami and
Jasem Jaaveleh who are active in Khuzastan Province in
general led to different comments.
The Arabs of Ahvaz claim that, it is
impossible that the three activists were in the same car and
reached on a consensus that, the Iranian government is
responsible for the deaths of them; therefore, the regime
opponent ethnic Arab organizations that are active in the
region caused these bus accidents as retaliation. The regime
opponent circles outside Iran emphasize that, the gun shot
incident of 27 March and the incidents that were told as
traffic accidents might be acts of Arab militants contrary
to the official statements, and the closure of this region
by the Iranian officials can be an important indication of
this issue.
The statement published by Ahvaz Human
Rights Committee, a regime opponent formation, in January
was as follows: “The Iranian regime increases its pressure
on the Arab population day by day and the international
human rights organizations must take an action as soon as
possible to remove the pressures on the Arab population.”
