Lebanese security forces have arrested two Ahwazi refugees in Beirut prior to their departure to the US after they obtained asylum through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the registered number 09-09C0055LE.

The two refugees are sisters Maryam and Nahayat Afri.

The Afri sisters have lived in Lebanon for over a decade and were recently granted asylum in the US.

Maryam and Nahayat were set to leave Lebanon for the US and even had plane tickets booked.

Friends and relatives of the Afri sisters told the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) that the Lebanese security forces stormed their house over a week ago and took them to an unknown destination.

Nothing is known about their fate until this moment, they added.

Neighbours of Maryam and Nahayat confirmed that the Lebanese general security stormed the sisters’ home and arrested them despite the fact that they were under the protection of the UNHCR in Beirut.

AHRO strongly condemns the arrest of Maryam and Nahayat Afri and calls on the Lebanese authorities to immediately intervene to release and allow them to safely leave to the US where they have been granted asylum.

AHRO also holds the Lebanese authorities responsible for the safety of Maryam and Nahayat Afri, who face the danger of being extradited to Iran under pressure from certain parties.

AHRO also calls on the UNHCR and the US government to intervene to release the Afri sisters and ensure they arrive safely to the US.

Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO)
25 January 2020
Iran will cease to be a country within a generation unless the environmental crisis in Ahwaz is tackled, a meeting at the House of Lords was told yesterday.
At a conference organised by the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS), scientists, engineers and human rights activists discussed Iran's ongoing efforts to dam the rivers of the Ahwaz region and the disastrous effects of pollution.
 Ahwazi  poet  "Ahmad Hazbawi"

Iranian authorities have launched mass arrests in Ahwaz

The Iranian government 's security forces launched a mass arrest on Tuesday 7th April in response to a peaceful protest two days before in Alawi district .Below are the names of some of the young men arrested in Ahwaz :

Mass Arrests on the First Day of Eve in Ahwaz
Iranian security launched a mass arrest campaign on the first day of Eid al-Fitr in various areas of Ahwaz and other cites in Al-Ahwaz .
Currently there are more than a dozen Ahwazi Arab men under arrest :
1- Ahmad Hazbawi
2- Naser Asadi
3- Morteza Silawi
4- Morteza Hardani
5- Mohammad Afrawi
6-Maher Masoudi
7- Ali Zuhairi
8- Adnan Hardani
9- Ahmad Braje’e
10-Ali Sharifi
11-Ahmad Masoudi
12- Mohammad Masoudi
13- Obaida Eskein Qazlawi
14- Aziz Hamidawi (Ahwaz -Weis )
15-Mohammed Hamidawi (Ahwaz- Weis )
15- Abbas Fior (Abadan)
16- Mohannad Baqlani (Abadan )
The last two names above were organising a march for Eid greetings as it is an Ahwazi tradition to visit friends and family on the first day of Eid -al Fitr .
Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation condemns these repeatedly arbitrary arrests and calls on the Iranian government to respect the right of freedom of assembly and demands the immediate and unconditioned release of these Ahwazi Arab citizens.