Amnesty International reports that six members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority will go on trial on May 20 amid fears that they will not receive a fair trial and may face the death penalty for the charge of “enmity against God.”
The six detainees were reportedly arrested without charges for nearly one year. Amnesty International says their arrest was "in connection with their activities on behalf of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab community.”
Amnesty identifies the six as “Mohammad Ali Amouri, blogger; Rahman Asakereh, teacher; Hashem Sha’bani Amouri, teacher; Hadi Rashidi, teacher; Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and his younger brother Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka.”
They were all arrested at their homes this February and March, in advance of the anniversary of the Arab community’s popular protests in Ahwaz in 2005.
The men are reportedly being held in Karoun Prison and, according to Amnesty International, many of them have been denied access to a lawyer.
Amnesty alleges that they were charged during “five-minute court sessions with the vaguely-worded offences of ‘enmity against God and corruption on earth’, ‘gathering and colluding against state security’ and ‘spreading propaganda against the system’.”
Under the Iranian legal system, the charges of enmity against God and corruption on earth can carry the death sentence .
