An Iranian Revolutionary Court has sentenced several Iranian Arabs to lengthy prison sentences on charges of breaching security and antagonizing the regime.
The accused, residents of the mostly Arab Khuzestan region, were sentenced to 25 years in prison. Another will be forcibly expelled, an unnamed spokesman for the Arab Ahwazi Revival Party told the independent pan-Arab news source Elaph.
They were found guilty of distributing inciteful material and organizing protests last year.
According to Elaph, Iranian authorities have meted out punishments to more than 40 Iranian Arabs, also known as Ahwazis, over the past seven months. Twelve were sentenced to death and three were executed.
Khuzestan, a region in western Iran bordering Iraq, is populated mostly by Arabs, who are a minority in Iran.
Ahwazi opposition groups say the central regime is illegally occupying their lands and inflicting discriminatory policies against them.
Tensions peaked in April 2005 following the publication of a letter allegedly written by a senior official, which addressed government plans to reduce the Arab population in the country.
Officials said the letter was fake, but the publication sparked violent demonstrations in the region, leading to a wave of arrests and further straining of relations between Iran’s Arab residents and the central regime.