The Iranian regime exerts considerable efforts to curb the spread of this phenomenon through the religious
establishment and its spread out pulpits. This through visual media, audio, readings, social networks,
websites, and the constant broadcast of advertisements; all that in order to maintain the legitimacy of the
structure of the sectarian system.
Authorities work to broadcast propaganda and lies, and forge facts attempting to link the issue of the
Ahwazi Arab people to the sectarian struggle in the Middle East region in order to divert attention from the
suffering of the Ahwazi Arab people resulting from national oppression policies and racial discrimination. It
operates media outlets, most of which are supervised by the Revolutionary Guard's intelligence or the
Intelligence Ministry, to highlight the sectarian conflict without addressing the suffering of the Ahwazi
Arab people and the continuing racial national oppression.
Those youth who change their faith and even Shiite citizens, who reject the dictatorship of the clerics and
are against extremism, call for the separation of religion from politics and focus on highlighting the
oppressive policies, the displacement, the broadcasting of myths and the repression of freedoms in the
name of faith and religion, and the policy of forging facts which the Iranian regime follows.
The Iranian regime responds to calls for freedom of faith and belief, for the respect of the rights of
minorities and the elimination of discrimination, with repression, intimidation, violence, arbitrary arrests and
torture, quick trials and executions.
And among the demands, that would [lead to] recognizing the rights of religious and sectarian minorities,
are the amendments to the Constitution, the Penal Code and the Civil Code of the country, which
discriminate against Sunni Muslims and non-Muslims of the Sabean Mandeans.
We demand from the international community from this platform to put pressure on the Iranian
government in order to eliminate discrimination, harassment and the oppression of non-Muslims and Sunni
Muslims, as well as ethnic minorities.
And what is needed is the immediate release of the Sunni detainees and other religious minorities and to
allow the construction of houses of worship, especially for the Sunnis in Al-Ahwaz and all other regions.