IRAN: RELEASE AHWAZI ARAB MAN FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED IN REPRISAL FOR HIS RELATIVES’ ACTIVISM

 

IRAN: RELEASE AHWAZI ARAB MAN FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED IN REPRISAL FOR HIS RELATIVES’ ACTIVISM

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately reveal the whereabouts of Falah Heidari, a member of Iran’s disadvantaged Ahwazi Arab minority, and release him immediately and unconditionally as he is arbitrarily detained solely because of his family association with his activist brother and son abroad. On 20 May 2021, Falah Heidari was summoned to the office of the intelligence unit of the Revolutionary Guards in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, and put under arrest and transferred to an unidentified location. The authorities have since concealed his whereabouts, thereby subjecting him to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law.

https://www.amnesty.org

Amnesty International said today that Iranian authorities should immediately reveal the whereabouts of Fallah Heydari, a member of the oppressed Ahwazi Arab minority, and release him immediately and unconditionally because he's only because of his family ties to his brother and son outside Iran. They are active and have been detained in an unruly manner. The organization warns that his continued enforced disappearance since his arrest on May 20, 1400, has put him at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

 

Fallah Heydari, 58, was summoned by telephone to the Intelligence Office of the Ahvaz Corps in Khuzestan Province on May 20, 1400, and has been arrested since then and transferred to an unknown location. Authorities have since kept him in custody, forcing him to disappear, a crime under international law.

 

Fallah Heydari was only allowed to make phone calls to his family for a few seconds, telling them that he was "well", but did not specify where he was detained. His family has repeatedly asked officers from the IRGC's intelligence office and the Ministry of Intelligence's press office in Ahwaz to provide information on his legal status and whereabouts, but officials have refused. Officials also refused to accept the medication provided by the family, saying they would take care of his medical needs themselves. Fallah Heydari suffers from a number of health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, and must follow a special diet.

 

A day before Fallah Heydari's forced disappearance, a number of security and intelligence agents raided his home in Ahvaz at around 1pm and arrested him and his 29-year-old son, Safa Heydari. Officers also searched his home and confiscated all cell phones found. According to an informed source, the officers did not issue any search warrants or warrants, and when two of Fallah Heydari's sons, Safa and Baha'i Heydari, objected, they beat the former and threw the latter to the ground. And they beat me.

 

Subsequently, Fallah Heydari and his son Safa Heydari were taken to an unknown location, detained and interrogated for hours, and then released. According to an informed source, the interrogators' questions focused on the political activities of Fallah Heydari's brother, Abdul Rahman Heydari, who lives outside Iran and is the spokesman for the Arab National Democratic Movement in Al-Hawaz. This political group demands the autonomy of the Ahwazi Arab minority in Iran and defends independence by emphasizing peaceful means. The interrogators also asked Fallah Heydari questions about the religious beliefs and activities of his son Alaa Heydari; Alaa Heydari fled Iran a few years ago following the change of religion from Shiite Islam to Sunni Islam and applied for asylum abroad, and has been engaged in religious propaganda in cyberspace ever since. According to information gathered by Amnesty International, Fallah Heydari, a retired teacher, is not personally involved in politics and has been targeted abroad solely for the activities of his brother and son. His current indiscriminate arrests and detentions are part of years of harassment of him and another of his brothers in Iran by Ministry of Intelligence agents who have asked them to pressure Abdul Rahman Heydari and Alaa Heydari to stop their activities or to warn Ministry of Intelligence officials of threatening Kill them or kidnap them and forcibly return them to Iran.

 

On June 30, 1400, the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit summoned Fallah Heydari, a 15-year-old girl named Fiha Heydari, for questioning by telephone. According to an informed source interviewed by Amnesty International, he was interrogated by a man despite his young age, without exercising his right to be accompanied by one of his parents or another suitable adult. After she cried out of fear and anxiety, a female guard entered the room and remained there during interrogation. The hours-long interrogation focused on how he and his family contacted his uncle and brother outside of Iran, as well as the family's political and religious beliefs.