December 15, 2014
MEMRI Special Dispatch No.5904
Saudi Media Campaign Denounces 'Ethnic Minority Oppression' In Iran
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8335.htm

Tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran has severely worsened recently
following two major events: The Houthi takeover of the Yemeni capital of
Sanaa on September 21, 2014, as well as of strategic sites on the shores of
the Red Sea; and fears in Saudi Arabia regarding major concessions by the
P5+1 group to Iran leading up to the singing of a permanent nuclear
agreement.

However, unlike in the past, this time tension between the countries boiled
over to the point of mutual recriminations in the political and diplomatic
arena. Thus, for example, some interpreted the death sentence handed down by
a Saudi court to Shi'ite oppositionist Nimr Baqr Al-Nimr as an anti-Iranian
move. The same goes for the dramatic drop in global oil prices, which was
interpreted by Iran and many analysts in the Arab world as a move meant to
harm the Iranian economy. [1] One expression of the escalation in tension is
the widespread coverage given in recent weeks by Saudi media, particularly
the official daily Al-Watan, to the issue of persecuted ethnic minorities in
Iran, chiefly the Sunni Baluchi, Kurdish, and Ahwazi minorities. This
coverage includes many reports, articles and interviews dealing with these
minorities, putting an emphasis on their "oppression" and the "inhuman acts"
they are subject to by the Iranian regime.

Thus, for example, Al-Watan featured an article on Iran's racist
discriminatory policy regarding Sunnis, and contrasted the policy of Iran,
which, it said, "leads its Sunni students to the gallows," with policies of
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states – which invest in educating youth
regardless of their ethnicity and "make sure to grant scholarships to
Shi'ite students."[2] An opinion piece in the official Saudi daily
Al-Jazirah also compared the treatment of Shi'ite minorities in Saudi Arabia
with that of Sunni minorities in Iran. The piece claimed that Iran employs a
policy of oppression and persecution of the Ahwazi Sunni Arabs, which is
expressed by attempts to eliminate their Arab identity, suppress their Sunni
faith, culturally oppress them with a ban on speaking and studying Arabic,
and steal the natural resources in their territory.[3]Another article in the
Saudi daily Al-Riyadh claimed that Iran's Sunnis "suffer marginalization,
security scrutiny, persecution, arrests, and torture, in addition to not
being allowed to conduct their rituals and build mosques."[4] The official
Saudi daily Makkah likewise published, on November 29, 2014, an article
condemning Iran's "racist policy" towards minorities living in its
territory, which, it said, is manifested in arrests, torture and
executions.[5]

In addition to reports and articles, Saudi media provided a pulpit for
spokesmen for Iran's ethnic minorities, who spoke at length about their
harsh oppression, which included usurpation of rights, persecution, and
execution. In October 2014, the official Saudi daily Al-Watan conducted a
series of interviews with these spokesmen, including with the leader of the
National Organization for the Liberation of Ahwaz, also known as HAZM,[6]
and with the head of HAZM's executive committee;[7] with Saeed Hamidan,
executive director of the Ahwaz Organization for the Defense of Human
Rights;[8]and with officials in the Kurdish PJAK organization.[9]These
spokesmen complained of "the denial of minority rights in Iran," and of
"racist treatment" and even "executions," "crimes against humanity," "ethnic
cleansing," and "mass extermination" carried out against them.

Moreover, Saudi media also spotlighted spokesmen from armed opposition
groups working against Iran, which seems to grant Saudi legitimization and
support for anti-Iranian military action. Thus, for instance, on October 25,
2014, the website for the Saudi channel Al-Arabiya interviewed the head of
the armed Baluchi group Jaish Al-'Adl (the Army of Justice), Salah Al-Din
Farooqi, who said that his organization "will continue armed action [against
Iran] so long as the Baluchi people and [Iran's] Sunnis are subject to
oppression, discrimination, and marginalization at the hands of Iranian
authorities."[10]

Al-Watan also published an interview with Jaish Al-'Adl commander Farooqi on
October 27, 2014, in which he revealed that his group downed an Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) jet over Baluchistan on October 11, 2014,
killing seven high-ranking IRGC officers. It should be mentioned that
Iranian media reported that a mechanical failure caused the plane to
crash.[11]


From Al-Arabiya interview with Jaish Al-'Adl leader

It seems that the intense Saudi media coverage of ethnic minorities in Iran,
specifically Al-Watan's Farooqi interview, in which he claimed
responsibility for downing the Iranian jet, outraged the Iranian
authorities. Al-Watan even explicitly stated that its intense coverage of
persecuted ethnic minorities in Iran angered the regime there. According to
the paper, the Farooqi interview "embarrassed the Iranian regime in front of
Iranian public" and "in response, the IRGC issued a furious communiqué
threatening Saudi media to stop spotlighting the issue of
minorities..."[12]Conversely, it seems that Iran's ethnic minorities are
pleased at being given a pulpit. Al-Watan reported that its editor received
a letter from HAZM thanking the daily in the name of "the Ahwazi Arab
people" for its coverage and for its "stand for Iran's oppressed and
weak."[13]


Ahwazi organization's letter to Al-Watan editor (Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia,
October 30, 2014)

It should be mentioned that Saudi media has always featured allegations of
Iranian interference in Saudi Arabia's internal affairs and Iranian attempts
to incite Saudi Shi'ites against local authorities, and that it has featured
numerous articles calling to answer Iran in kind by supporting the ethnic
minorities there.[14] This recent trend in Saudi media appears to be an
implementation of this stance.

On October 19, 2014, as part of the aforementioned series of interviews with
spokesmen of Iran's ethnic minorities, Al-Watan published an interview with
HAZM leader Habib Jaber. HAZM is an umbrella organization of several popular
Ahwaz liberation movements that has been operating openly in Egypt since
January 15, 2010. In the interview, Jaber stated that Iran had already
implemented the bulk of its expansionist plan, which involves interfering in
the internal affairs of Arab and Gulf states by inciting Shi'ite minorities
in these countries against the Sunni regimes and by positioning Iranian
loyalists in key positions. Jaber also justified the Saudi court's death
sentence issued against senior Shi'ite cleric and oppositionist Nimr Baqr
Al-Nimr, arguing that Iran executes Arabs without trial on far less serious
charges than those brought against Al-Nimr.

Also, Jaber called on the Gulf states to support minorities in Iran,
including the Arabs of Ahwaz, whom he said are heavily oppressed by Iran's
Shi'ite regime, and added that support for those minorities would give Iran
a taste of its own medicine by igniting conflict within its borders, just as
Iran ignites conflicts in other countries.[15]

The following is a translation of the article:

Arabs Should Support Ethnic Minorities In Iran To Fan Conflicts There, Just
As Iran Is Doing In Arab Countries

"The head of the National Organization for the Liberation of Ahwaz [HAZM],
Habib Jaber, expressed surprise that Iran defended Nimr Al-Nimr, whom a
Saudi court sentenced to death last week 'as a warning [to others].' In a
phone conversation with Al-Watan, Jaber said that if an Ahwaz resident had
said in Iran what Al-Nimr said [in Saudi Arabia], [the regime] in Tehran
would have executed him without a trial...

"Habib pointed out that Iran has a '50-[year] plan,' most of whose steps
have been carried out successfully,[16] and that Arab countries, on the
other hand, specifically the Gulf states, have no counter-plan or
counter-activity on the ground to halt Iranian expansionism. The leader of
HAZM said: 'First, everyone should realize that we are not [treated like]
Iranian citizens, so we cannot be [called] 'Arab-Iranians.' We are a people
living on land occupied by the Persians, and our problem is no different
from the Palestinian one. Iranian injustice is directed at all Iranian
sectors known as non-Persian peoples. The Persians themselves also suffer
from this oppression, but the oppression of [the people of] Ahwaz is
qualitatively and quantitatively different.'


"[In the interview,] Habib Jaber noted that Iran has been implementing the
cruelest of oppression tactics against the Arabs of Ahwaz since June 1925,
when a so-called uprising occurred in what was then the capital of Ahwaz,
the city of Al-Muhammara, [an uprising] which was completely crushed with
the aid of Britain. These [human rights] violations continued until 1979,
when Arabs, particularly children, were massacred in Ahwaz, after [Ayatollah
Ruhollah] Khomeini gave the military governor the authority to do this.
[Jaber] added: 'These [human rights] violations did not cease, and are still
taking place. In 2005, [the residents of] Ahwaz revolted, demanding rights,
and their children were killed just because they demanded this.'

"Jaber described the Iranian Republic as a country that commits massive
crimes, [adding that] not only is there no deterrent to stop its human
rights violations, but it continues to make false accusations against the
Arabs of Ahwaz on their occupied land. Wearing the red keffiyeh [one of the
symbols of the Ahwazi national movement] has become a crime for which Arabs
are executed, and [anyone speaking] Arabic is punished by death [merely] for
using the language of the Koran."

Jaber said that, if the Arabs of Ahwaz received just a quarter of the sum
that the Iranians spend on interfering in Arab countries by inciting the
Shi'ites there, they would be able to give Iran a taste of its own medicine
by starting conflicts within Iran.

He added: "'For us to break Iran's back, it is enough for the Arab countries
to stand by us. But it is clear that the Gulf states, especially Saudi
Arabia, are currently squeezed in an Iranian vise – from the south in the
form of the Houthis in Yemen, and from the north in the form of Hizbullah's
incursion into Iraq. Since the 1990s Iran has been investing efforts in
bringing this about, and today it is succeeding in most of the moves that it
planned. But these [moves] can boomerang on Iran if the Arab [countries] use
one of their cards in Iran [i.e., the Arab minorities there].'

"Jaber claimed that [the Arabs of] Ahwaz are one of five cards [that the
Arabs can use against Iran], which include the Baluchis, Kurds, and other
[non-Persian minorities within Iran], and stressed that it was enough to use
one of these [cards], which exist as a result of Iran's stubborn policy, to
ensure a crisis that would keep Tehran preoccupied with its domestic
situation, which is already volatile due to its violations. Jaber said:
'Despite Iran's widespread interventionist policy, which harms the
sovereignty of the Gulf states and the internal affairs of Arab countries,
the [Arab] countries that are imperiled by Iran have not initiated a
response, even a simple one, to [the suffering] afflicting the Ahwazis,
Kurds, and Baluchis, such as raising the matter of the non-Persian peoples
of Iran [on the international agenda].' According to Habib Jaber, the Gulf
states must treat Iran the same way [it treats them] and take advantage of
these opportunities, if only to send a message to Tehran that 'Iran's
Persians are not immune to the chaos you have caused in the Arab world.'"

"If An Ahwazi Arab Had Said Even 10% Of What Nimr Al-Nimr Said In His
Speeches, He Would Have Been Executed Without A Trial"

"Habib Jaber said that the verdict against the so-called leader of fitna in
Al-Awamiyah, Nimr Al-Nimr, is not as unjust as the injustice perpetrated by
Iran against the Arabs of Ahwaz. He argued that, if an Ahwazi Arab had said
even 10% of what Nimr Al-Nimr said in his speeches, he would have been
executed without a trial would have been denied even the basic rights that
Saud Arabia granted Nimr Al-Nimr during his trial. He added: 'We are
executed for the simplest matters; even the red keffiyeh is considered a
provocation by the Persians, and they convict us for it and even execute
Arabs who wear it.'

"He claimed further that the actions of the leader of fitna [Nimr Al-Nimr]
and his behavior during his speeches, which spread poison throughout the
entire Arab Saudi population, give the kingdom the right to execute him.
According to Jaber, 'all Saudi citizens are Arabs from different sects, and
despite this, the leader of fitna routinely demanded that the Eastern region
secede [from Saudi Arabia; moreover, he dared to say this] in Saudi Arabia
[itself]. Iran's servants in the Gulf have reached this level of moral
depravity because there is no plan to deter them. Most of the moves of the
Ayatollahs' fifty[-year] plan, which was exposed in the 90s, have already
been carried out successfully. The most damning evidence of this is
[visible] in Kuwait, followed by Bahrain and Yemen.'

"The leader of the ASMLA believes that Iran's servants in the Gulf have
crossed the line in their demands. He says that in the 90s, Iran began to
formulate moves to acquire influence, especially in the Gulf states.
According to him, this became evident in Kuwait and Bahrain, and even in
Arab countries like Yemen, Syria, and specifically in Lebanon, as
influential people of Iranian manufacture began to emerge. Habib mentioned
that Iran penetrated the Arab region by extending aid to [Arab] merchants.
After winning the sympathy of these merchants with financial and other
benefits, it made them a [powerful] social class in their countries, and
they took part in parliaments and other [institutions], where they began
serving Iran's interests in the Arab territories.

"Habib Jaber wondered why there is no Arab counter-plan to the Iranian plan,
and stressed that if Arab countries wished to deter the Iranians, they could
find several openings that would undoubtedly influence Iran's plan and its
expansionist efforts and attempts to infiltrate Arab countries. He added:
'Iran has penetrated deep into the Arab homeland, and has a plan which, as
[Iranian] officials have stressed, does not stop in Iraq and Yemen or Syria,
but [also] targets the Arab Gulf region. This, because [they consider] this
area a part of the Persian Empire, which must return to it. But where is our
Arab plan in the face of this Iranian behavior?'"


Endnotes:





[1] Al-Nimr was sentenced to death on October 15, 2014, after the court
convicted him of several charges, including incitement to topple the regimes
in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain; attempting to convince wanted persons to rebel
against the Saudi regime; calling for the Shi'ite city of Al-Awamiyah in the
Al-Qatif province to secede from Saudi Arabia; fundraising to purchase
Molotov cocktails; and speaking of the illegitimacy of the Saudi government
and calling to topple it and replace it with the Rule of the Jurisprudent.
Al-Nimr affirmed the charges against him but has decided to appeal the
verdict within a month. Al-Hayat (London), October 16, 2014.


[2] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 19, 2014.


[3] Al-Jazirah (Saudi Arabia), October 25, 2014.


[4] Al-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), October 21, 2014.


[5] Makkah (Saudi Arabia), November 29, 2014.


[6] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 19, 2014.


[7] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 26, 2014.


[8] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 31, 2014. Al-Watan also published an
interview with prominent Ahwaz activist 'Abd Al-Hamid bin Suhail Al-Nasri
Al-Tamimi – a former Shi'ite who became a Sunni – who relayed how Iranian
authorities persecuted him and told of Sunni suffering in Iran. He called on
Arab countries to assist the non-Persian ethnicities that are being
oppressed by the Iranian regime. Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), November 14, 2014.


[9] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 20, 2014.


[10] Aralabiya.net, October 25, 2014. The channel also reported on November
14, 2014 that Sheikh 'Abd Al-Hamid Isma'il Zahi, the Sunni Imam in the
Baluchi capital of Zahedan, called to end national and religious minority
discrimination in Iran's state media.


[11] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 27, 2014.


[12] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 30, 2014.


[13] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 30, 2014.


[14] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5776, 'Al-Hayat' Deputy Editor: Gulf
States Should Help Al-Ahwaz Secede From Iran, June 19, 2014; and MEMRI
Special Dispatch No. 4735, Article In London-Based Saudi Daily Al-Sharq
Al-Awsat: Confront Iran On Its Home Turf, May 17, 2012.


[15] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), October 19, 2014.


[16] According to various reports, this is a plan formulated by Iran's
Majlis, which has five 10-year stages, and is aimed at realizing Iran's
expansionist goals by exporting the Islamic Revolution to Iran's Sunni
areas, the Gulf states, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In the
past, Kuwaiti columnists and elements warned against Iranian plans to take
over the Gulf states. See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 635,
Concerns in Kuwait, Gulf over Iranian Threat to Gulf States, September 9,
2010.


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