KurdistanObserver.com

Activists Mount Iranian Embassy Picket to Protest Human Rights Violations in Eastern Kurdistan

Kameel Ahmady

London

Aug 16, 2005

Some two hundred Kurdish and human rights activists mounted a picket of the Iranian Embassy on Saturday, August 13 to draw attention to the violation of human against the Kurds in Iran.

Iranian government try divert attention from its repression of Kurds in the province of Kurdistan and neighbouring Kurdish areas by havening more important issues in news head lines about its nuclear activates. Some 30 people are reported to have been killed and hundreds of others are believed to have been arrested, including prominent Kurdish human rights defenders and activists.

Unrest began in the Kurdish town of Mahabad, in early July, following the shooting of Shivan Qadiri, a Kurdish opposition activist as he was being arrested by Iranian security forces. The unrest, ranging from peaceful sit-ins, closure of shops to violent clashes, soon escalated, spreading to many other cities in the region, as many in the Kurdish population expressed dissatisfaction with the cycle of violence, arrest and oppressive behaviour of Iranian forces.

Unarmed civilians have been attacked by state security forces (involving a reported 100,000 troops) and paramilitary vigilantes. Journalists and human rights activists have been picked up and detained. Civilians have been arrested arbitrarily and routinely tortured and also head of Kurdish women originations, the indiscriminate arrest of civilians and the only two independent newspapers closed. Accurate information is hard to come by but Kurdish activists are convinced that at least 30 people have been killed in the last month.  In one incident, on 3 August, in the city of Saqiz, a military helicopter gunned down civilians. The number of deaths and injured is rising.

Kurds make up some 10 percent of Iran’s population of 68 million, and have militated for greater attention from the central government, citing provincial underdevelopment, inadequate political representation, and inattention to their cultural needs. Before the June presidential election, Kurdish demands prompted threats from the Guardians Council. During the campaign, reformist candidates paid particular attention to the demands of Kurds and other minorities.

The Demonstration Organising Committee has decided to organize another demonstration in Whitehall in front of Downing Street on Friday, 19 August, 4-6pm.