According to local sources, the Iranian authorities have transferred two Ahwazi Arab activists, the 30 year- old Abdullah Abdullahi and 31-year-old Qasim Bait to the notorious Evin prison in the capital Tehran.

In October 2017, Ahwaz Revolutionary Court sentenced these two Ahwaz Arab activists, from Shawar district of Shoush city to six months in prison, and another four activists were sentenced to three to 30 years in prison on charges of threatening National Security.

The names of those sentenced to imprisonment are as follows:

Ahmed Abdellahi, 30 years old, from Shoush, 25 years to life.

Majed Bait Abdullah, 23 years old, from Khalaf Muslim village, 25 years to life.

Hassoun Bait Abdullah, 31 years old from the village of Dergal, 25 years to life.

Hussein Abdullahi, 24, years old, Abdullah Abdullah's brother from Al-Shawwar, three years.

Issa Abdullahi, 30 years old, and Majid Abdullahi 24 years old were sentenced between three to thirty years in prison.

A local source from Ahwaz informed us at AHRO that due to lack of evidence, the Supreme Judicial Council in Tehran had overturned the death sentence, but the third branch of revolutionary court sentenced them to death, and they are transferred from Ahwaz to Evin prison in Tehran for imminent execution.

These provision sentences, which were issued on charges of animosity toward God and his Messenger, propaganda against the Iranian regime and threatening national security came only after these activists were accused of being part of a group called "Jund al-Faruq" (Faruq Army).

These detainees were held in secret prisons under torture since their arrest in

from 2015 until the issue of this arbitrary provisional sentences in September 2017.

Local human right activists in Ahwaz confirm that these charges are unfounded and there is no party under the name of Jund al-Faruq on the ground, and affirmed that these accusations are fabricated by the Iranian intelligence to suppress the Ahwazi Arabs civil society activists. The last few years have seen several activists being arrested for similar accusations and on charges of membership in such groups with fabricated names.

The Ahwazi Human Rights Organization condemns these provisional sentences and expresses its deep concern over the increasing number of executions in Ahwaz and calls for the abolition of the death sentence against activists Abdullah Abdullah and Qasim Bait Abdullah. And the prison sentences against the rest of detained Ahwazi Arab activists. AHRO calls for fair trials of Abdullah Abdullah and Qasim Bait Abdullah, with the presence of independent lawyers and to halt the execution of these young men.

Ahwazi Human Rights Organization

18 January 2019