#Ahwazna – Saudi diplomat takes on Iran’s repression, meddling at UN
Saudi Arabia's delegate to the United Nations, Abdullah al-Maalami on Tuesday gave a speech ahead of a vote on a resolution condemning the deteriorated human rights situation under the ironclad theocracy.
He also spoke of the violations committed by the regime at home against minorities, especially the Ahwazis, who have been fighting for their right to independence for decades.
Yet, al-Maalami took on the regime, citing its record of repression and meddling in the Middle East through militias which implements its schemes for demographic changes in the areas where they wrest control.
Sectarian militias
In his remarkable speech, he broached the Iranian meddling in the region through its sectarian militias, especially the IRGC.
"In every spot where the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been deployed, including Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, sectarianism has prevailed," he said.
These militias embarked on displacing local residents from entire districts and cities, replacing them with sectarian groups, which amounts to be a sort of prosecution and sectarian cleansing, the Saudi diplomat noted.
"In some cities, the demographic structure has changed drastically, with sectarian banners spreading everywhere.”
Arabs of Ahwaz
He also touched on the horrendous crimes perpetrated at home against the Arabs of Ahwaz, where the regime is using every way to deny them their rights.
"Also, the Iranian regime has been committing grave violations against the Arabs of Ahwaz. Laws have been tailored to eject Ahwazis from their homes, with the aim of enforcing demographic changes in the region of Ahwaz, located in north and east of the Arabian Gulf where those people used to live," the diplomat said.
He continued: “In 2016, Supreme National Security Council in Iran Okayed a project introduced by the IRGC to forces two-thirds of the Arab Ahwazis from their homes."
In addition, the authorities set about diverting courses of rivers away from the areas where the Ahwazi Arabs are settled, let alone the ban imposed on establishing Arab cultural centers in Ahwaz.
