Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Omid, a memorial in defense of human rights in Iran
One Person’s Story

Abdorrahman Badavi

About

Age: 37
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: April 14, 2011
Location of Killing: Hamidiyeh, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Arbitrary shooting
Charges: Unknown charge

About this Case

Information about Mr. Abdorrahman Badavi was taken from an announcement of Amnesty International (04/19/2011) and the Ahwaz European Human Rights Organization. Additional information was collected from several sources including:  a letter from Ms. Shirin Ebadi to Ms. Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights Commissioner (04/18/2011); an announcement from Human Rights Watch (04/29/2011); the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization; Radio Farda (04/18/2011); BBC (04/18/2011); Fars News (04/16/2011) and HRANA (04/16/2011).

Mr. Badavi, father of three, was thirty-years-old, married, and from Shush. According to a report from Amnesty International, he was killed while going from Ahvaz to Hamidieh on 04/14/2011, during arrests before the protests of April 15. Based on the information sent to ABF, Mr. Badavi was shot by security and police forces after having passed a checkpoint. According to Human Rights Watch - a week before the anniversary of the 2005 protests - police and Basij forces had set up a lot of checkpoints in different cities of Khuzestan where Arabs live and intended to arrest several of the Arab activists. In an announcement published couple of days after these incidents, Amnesty International mentioned that Mr. Badavi was 37-years-old.

The Officials’ Reaction

Iranian judicial and state authorities did not provide a clear explanation about the number or names of those killed during the protests of April 2011 in different areas of the province. Fars news quoted the commander of the Shadegan Police station that one person was killed, and the head of the police station of the Abudi area of Shadegan was injured during clashes with "armed insurgents.” In another response, the temporary leader of Ahvaz Friday prayers, Ayatollah Al-e Kasiri, said that people in Khuzestan are separated from limited anti-revolutionary groups, affiliated with the west (Fars News 04/16/2011). According to the information in Ms. Ebadi’s letter to UN Human Rights Commissioner, security forces used threats to silence the families of those killed and arrested several family members who were interviewed by Arab media.

The Family’s Remarks

No information regarding remarks or reactions by Mr. Badavi’s family is available.

A Summary of the Legal Defects in the Adjudication of Mr. Abdorrahman Badavi’s Case

Pursuant to the Law on the Use of Arms by the Armed Forces in Exigent Cases, members of the armed forces may use their weapons only under conditions provided for by this Law. The Law states that first, use of a weapon must be necessary. Secondly, other means of dispersing the crowd must have been utilized, and if the objective has not been reached, a weapon can be fired as a last resort. As for firing the weapon, a warning must be given prior to firing, then a warning shot must be fired [in the air], and only then a shot may be fired aiming below the waist; and finally, [if none of the latter steps are successful in reaching the objective,] shots can be fired above the waist. Furthermore, the officer in question must have physical and mental competence, as well as the requisite training and skills [to fire a weapon]. In many of the shootings involving protesters, we notice that none of these steps and legal requirements are adhered to. The gathering in the course of which Abdorrahman Badavi was shot was by no means an armed one. The officers could easily have used other means, such as tear gas or pepper spray to disperse the protesters, and if that had not brought about the desired result, it was very easily possible to stop the targeted person without shooting at the sensitive parts of his body such as the head and the chest, and shoot him below the waist. Published reports of said demonstrations indicate that there was absolutely no need to resort to firing directly [at the subject], and that Abdorrahman Badavi’s killing was, therefore, illegal. The shooters should have been criminally prosecuted.

A Summary of the Khuzestan Protests

Subsequent to the publication of a letter dated July 24, 1998, ascribed to then-President Khatami’s Chief of Staff, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, demonstrations protesting the letter broke out on Friday, April 15, 2005, first in [the city of] Ahvaz, and then in other cities, such as Mahshahr and Hamidideh, and continued for several days. The letter emphasized the modification of Khuzestan Province’s ethnic Arab population through promotion and encouragement of the migration of non-native populations to the province, thus reducing Khuzestan’s Arab population to one third of the total population of the province. Although the government’s spokesperson officially denied the existence of this letter on Saturday, April 16, the demonstrations that had been called for by the “Coordination Committee for Popular Protests in Ahvaz”* continued extensively in the coming days. In calling for demonstrations, the organizers highlighted various factors, including the central government’s policies in expropriating Arab farmers’ lands for various projects such as sugar cane development, and marginalization of, as well as profound discontent among, Khuzestan’s Arab population, as a result of the regime’s efforts to obliterate Arab identity.

The demonstrations that had started in Kui-e Alavi (Shelangabad/Da’ereh), one of Ahvaz’s poor neighborhoods, quickly spread to the center of Ahvaz and to the cities of Mahshahr and Hamidieh. Citing Ahvaz News (a regional news organization) and eyewitnesses at the scene, the Ahvaz Human Rights Organization’s bulletin, dated April 15, 2005, stated, “Around three thousand Arab people of Ahvaz have gathered together and started extensive but peaceful demonstrations in Kordovani Street and Square, along with thousands of others in neighborhoods such as Shelangabad, Malashieh, Ameri, and Kut Abdollah, among others. Security forces are attacking the demonstrators, first with tear gas, and are subsequently firing on them in Da’ereh and Malashieh neighborhoods.” The degree of violence resorted to by security and police forces in quashing the demonstrations was such that it led to the death of a number of protestors. Dozens more were injured. Subsequent to these deaths, the intensity and magnitude of the protests increased. In a number of towns, demonstrators proceeded to cut off roads and to occupy government buildings and police posts. These protests continued for ten days in many Arab regions of Khuzestan. Protestors demanded a government apology to the region’s Arabs. Official government sources, quoting the Islamic Republic’s Defense Minister, announced the death toll as standing at three or four. (ISNA, April 19, 2005) Civil society activists, however, declared the number of people killed during these events to be between 50 and 60. Amnesty International stated the number as 29; Human Rights Watch, 50; and the Ahvaz Human Rights Organization, 160. Dozens of others were injured. The Ahvaz General and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office announced the arrest and arraignment of 447 individuals. (IRNA, April 25, 2005) Local sources, however, announced the number as being greater than 1200. A number of intellectuals and ethnic leaders were among those arrested. Although the demonstrations subsided after ten days, widespread arrests, multiple bombings, successive executions, and popular protests continued on various occasions, including the anniversary of the events.

The Recurrence of Protests in the Following Years

In the years since the violent incidents of April 15, 2005, the regime’s forces have continued to violently suppress the peaceful protests of the Arab citizens of Khuzestan Province, whenever they occur, including on the anniversary of the protests. Every year, as April 15th nears, a wave of arrests takes over the entire region. Internet access is cut off, and other means of communication, such as telephones, are tapped and strictly controlled by the security apparatus. Certain cases of death in suspicious circumstances have even been reported by local sources.

On November 4, 2005, after the Eid al-Fitr prayers, Arab citizens of Ahvaz started a peaceful march. On the route to Lashgarabad, every time they would reach the homes of those who had perished in the April 15th protests, they would chant local and Arabic slogans as part of the new Eid ceremonies. On their way back, while on the Fifth Bridge of the Karun River, a large number of the protestors were surrounded on both sides of the bridge by Revolutionary Guards, Bassij, and police forces. The attempt by these forces to arrest and severely punish the demonstrators who had been trapped on the bridge led to the escalation of the protests. A large number of the demonstrators were arrested, and some jumped into the Karun River for fear of arrest.

Further, on October 13, 2007, after the Eid al-Fitr prayers, thousands of Arab citizens started peaceful protests in Hamidieh, chanting Arabic and epic slogans and songs. (Ahwaz Human Rights Organization) Dozens were beaten and arrested when security and police forces violently intervened in the protests. There are no reports of protestors having been killed on the day of Eid al-Fitr. Somewhat later, after the demonstrations, however, the bodies of 4 citizens were found in the Karun River. According to activists, their hands were tied with plastic handcuffs, and signs of torture were visible on their bodies. (Ahwaz News Agency)

On April 15, 2011, the sixth anniversary of the 2005 protests and shortly after the rise of the “Arab Spring” in the Middle East, demonstrations of “A Day of Anger” were organized (in solidarity with the “Day of Anger” demonstrations in other Arab countries of the region) in the regions of Khuzestan Province’s with predominantly Arab residents. In Hamidieh and Ahvaz, demonstrations were more widespread and were, therefore, violently quashed by security and police forces, resulting in at least twelve dead and more than twenty injured. (Human Rights Defenders) Additionally, hundreds of other Arab citizens were arrested. International human rights organizations condemned the suppression of demonstrations and the ban on news coverage by Iranian authorities, and asked the Islamic Republic authorities to allow journalists and human rights organizations to independently investigate and freely send reports in order to identify the victims of the demonstrations in Ahvaz and other cities of Khuzestan with predominantly Arab residents. (Reporters Without Borders, April 23, 2011, Human Rights Watch, April 29, 2011)

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* The “Committee for Organizing Popular Protests in Ahvaz” was a committee consisting of different political groups, including the “Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement In Ahwaz” and the “Wefaq Party,” and civil and cultural institutions such as the “Amjad Institute” and “Al-Shorouq,” as well as Arab civil activists.  The first critical statement by the “Arab National Democratic Movement of Ahvaz” was issued on April 9, 2005.

 

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