Extensive Human Rights Report: Sugarcane Projects in Al-Ahwaz — Documents of Ethnic Cleansing (the 2005 Uprising), Falsification of Land Areas, and Population Data Manipulation as Tools of Demographic Change*
Amid the ongoing wave of labor and popular protests staged by Ahwazi citizens outside the Deabel Khuzaei Sugarcane Company for the third consecutive week, the true and catastrophic dimensions of these so-called investment projects are coming to light. Based on international reports and documentation issued by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and published via the United Nations’ international database (Refworld), what is marketed under the guise of “development projects” is nothing more than an extension of systematic colonial and settlement policies aimed at changing the region’s identity and geography and impoverishing its indigenous population.
*First: Historical Roots — From the Pahlavi Nucleus to the Intensive Expansion under the Khomeini Regime*
Historical and human rights documentation indicates that sugarcane cultivation projects in the geography of Al-Ahwaz were never an innocent economic venture. Their first foundations were laid under the last Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), when the first major nucleus of this industry was established in the early 1960s. Although that period saw the launch of the first historic project, the Islamic Republic regime subsequently expanded this scheme in a terrifyingly intensive manner, using it as a tool of settlement and demographic engineering to uproot and displace the indigenous Arab population and bring in Persian settlers from Persian cities to replace them.
Second: The 2005 Document and the Comprehensive Dignity Uprising — The Bloodiness of the Crackdown and Ahwazi Heroism
The danger of settlement projects in Al-Ahwaz is not limited to economic effects but extends to policies systematically decided at the highest levels of the state. This is clearly evident in the historic April 2005 uprising, which swept through and covered all Ahwazi cities without exception. Its spark was the leak of an official document (known as the “Abtahi Document”), which explicitly set out government plans, over a ten-year period, to displace and expel two-thirds (2/3) of the Ahwazi Arabs from their homeland and replace them with settlers of Persian ethnicity.
Iranian authorities met this peaceful uprising with unjustified bloody repression. According to statistics issued by Shahid Chamran University in the capital of Al-Ahwaz, the uprising resulted in the deaths of 220 Ahwazi martyrs and the arrest of more than 150,000 citizens — clear evidence of the scale of the systematic government crackdown against the Ahwazi people.
Third: Falsification of Land Areas and Manipulation of Official Statistics
Iranian authorities attempt to evade accountability and international condemnation by withholding accurate data and manipulating the official figures published regarding the true areas allocated to sugarcane projects. While incomplete data is promoted publicly, field data and documented Ahwazi testimonies confirm that the actual areas seized for sugarcane projects and their affiliated industries are several times larger than the officially announced figures — part of a large-scale plundering of the Ahwazi people’s resources.
Fourth: Falsification of Population Numbers and Erasure of Identity
As part of a systematic policy of erasure, Iranian authorities continually falsify demographic facts and fabricate the true numbers of the indigenous Arab population. They falsely claim that the number of Ahwazi Arabs does not exceed “two million,” while realistic statistics and studies confirm that the true number of Ahwazi Arabs in the region ranges between 10 and 14 million — a futile attempt to diminish their demographic weight and cover up crimes of systematic racial discrimination, marginalization, and impoverishment.
Fifth: Map of Sugarcane Companies in Al-Ahwaz (from oldest to newest)
To carry out these agendas, the following agricultural and industrial companies were established (in ascending order of founding date):
– Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company (Shrekat-e Kesht-o Sanat-e Nishekar-e Haft Tappeh) — the oldest (Mohammad Reza Shah era, 1961): more than 24,900 hectares near Susa (a symbol of historic labor struggle).
– Dehkhoda Sugarcane Company (Kesht-o Sanat-e Dehkhoda): 11,369 hectares north of Al-Ahwaz.
– Hakim Farabi Sugarcane Company (Kesht-o Sanat-e Hakim Farabi): ~15,000 hectares south of Al-Ahwaz (established 1994).
– Khomeini Sugarcane Company (Kesht-o Sanat-e Khomeini): ~15,300 hectares in Shushtar.
– Amir Kabir Sugarcane Company (Kesht-o Sanat-e Amir Kabir): ~15,000 hectares on the Al-Ahwaz–Mohammareh road (opened in 2000).
– Salman Farsi Sugarcane Company: among the later major companies.
– Deabel Khuzaei Sugarcane Company: ~12,000 hectares (the current epicenter of labor protests due to employment exclusion and discrimination).
– Mirza Kuchak Khan Sugarcane Company: among the newest links in the chain of settlement expansion in southwestern Al-Ahwaz.
(In addition to affiliated industrial companies such as Razi Alcohol and others.)
Sixth: Land Confiscation by Force of Arms — Displacement of Hundreds of Thousands
According to reports by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) via Refworld, this network was established by seizing village lands at gunpoint, leading to the uprooting and displacement of 200,000 to 250,000 Ahwazi Arab citizens (local estimates put the figure at more than half a million), who were given meager compensation before being pushed to the outskirts of cities.
Seventh: Devastating Social and Environmental Consequences (Poverty, Illiteracy, and Crime)
These policies produced a humanitarian catastrophe manifested in the spread of extreme poverty and illiteracy resulting from the loss of land, rising divorce and crime rates, and the spread of drugs as a tool for destroying the social fabric of youth.
Eighth: Current Protests and Their Suppression
Ahwazi workers and citizens continue their protests for the third week outside the Deabel Khuzaei company, rejecting the denial of employment and the settlement of newcomers in their place. Their peaceful protests have been met with live ammunition and arbitrary arrests.
Ninth: Demands of the Alahwazi Organization for Human Rights (A.O.H.R)
Based on the international reports and documentation issued by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) via the United Nations platform (Refworld), the Alahwazi Organization for Human Rights declares the following:
– Condemnation of Ethnic Cleansing and Demographic Change: Rejection of all settlement and forced displacement projects represented by the sugarcane companies and their declared and undeclared plans (such as the 2005 documents).
– Immediate End to Repression: A demand that Iranian authorities cease the use of violence and live ammunition, and release all detained workers and citizens.
– Restoration of Rights and Property: Affirmation of the right of displaced Ahwazi families to reclaim their confiscated lands and receive fair compensation.
– International and UN Action: A call on international bodies and human rights organizations to adopt these documented facts, expose the manipulation of land areas and population figures, and open an international investigation into the crimes of discrimination and systematic displacement against the Ahwazi people.
Alahwazi Organization for Human Rights(A.O.H.R)
