Araz News: Many political activists and human right activists have supported South Azerbaijan political prisoners specially Morteza Moradpour in Washington -US and cologne- Germany on 24 Dec 2016.

They protest Iran regime authorities silence to critical health conditions of South Azerbaijan prisoners specially Morteza Moradpour and their demands. Participants in the rally stated fair judgement  of South Azerbaijan political prisoners.

It should be noted that Iran Regime rejected Mortaza Moradpour demand for applying section 134 of the law to let him released after 2 years in prison. Mortaza Moradpour started a hunger strike on 25 October 2016 up to now.

Mortaza Moradpour has 62 Days of his Hunger strike and critical health condition reported.

The final statement was read at the end of the peaceful demonstration in Washington -US.

Rally for Solidarity with Political Prisoners from South Azerbaijan

Washington, D.C. – Saturday 12/24/2016

Ethnic rights of Azerbaijani Turks are violated by the Iranian government on a daily basis. Any protests against mistreatment of Azerbaijani Turks are brutally crushed by security forces loyal to the central government in Tehran. There are many political prisoners from South Azerbaijan who are serving their prison sentences for defending their basic human rights like the use of Azerbaijani Turkish in education. Many prisoners are faced with harsh conditions in prisons and some are deprived of basic accommodations available for all prisoners. Some prisoners from South Azerbaijan are still in prison despite finishing their sentences. And there are some who are eligible for parole, but are not allowed to leave prison. All of these conditions have caused tensions which have accumulated for a long time and some prisoners have resorted to hunger strike demanding answers to their situation.

Morteza Moradpour who is currently in Tabriz Prison has been on hunger strike for two months. He has lost 50 pounds and is in poor health. He is in danger of falling into coma or kidney failure. Rasoul Razavi was on hunger strike for more than a month and ended his strike only after achieving most of his demands. Yurush (Ayat) Mehralibeyli and Latif Hasani were also on hunger strike.

Azerbaijani political activists in Iran advocate human rights for all and believe the right of education in mother tongue is a fundamental human right. Currently there are tens of ethnic Azerbaijani political prisoners in Iranian prisons. They also advocate allocating more government resources for revival of Lake Urmia which is drying up. Lake Urmia has lost more that 80 percent of its water due to mismanagement of water resources by government authorities.

Iran is home to many ethnic groups, including Azerbaijani Turks, Persians, Kurds, Ahwazi Arabs, Baluches, Lors, Turkmans and others. The Azerbaijanis are the largest ethnic minority in Iran, where they make up more than one third of Iran’s total population. Azerbaijani political activists believe in the principle of self-determination. They believe all peoples should freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Peace and cooperation among various ethnic groups will guarantee freedom and prosperity for all. Any discrimination will jeopardize future peace and co-existence among various ethnic groups in Iran. “Persian Supremacy” which is implicitly condoned and in some cases explicitly supported by the Iranian government and some opposition groups abroad is threatening the unity among Iranians.

Ethnic rights, including language rights remain a thorny issue in relations among Persian dominated opposition groups abroad and the groups representing non-Persian ethnic groups. Most Persians-dominated opposition groups are reluctant to recognize political and cultural rights of non-Persian ethnic groups and at best they postpone tackling this issue at a time when their political group comes to power in Iran. We believe in respecting all human rights, including language rights and self-governance rights are the key to obtaining freedom and prosperity for all Iranian. “Persian Supremacy” is not the answer.

BY-H.A