Iran: 1. Information on Charshambeh-Siah, a Khuzestan Nationalist movement; legality of the group; 2. Operations of the group in Kuwait, and possible monitoring by the Iranian Embassy
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 January 1990 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | IRN3488 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iran: 1. Information on Charshambeh-Siah, a Khuzestan Nationalist movement; legality of the group; 2. Operations of the group in Kuwait, and possible monitoring by the Iranian Embassy, 1 January 1990, IRN3488, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aab5b7.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
According to an authority on Iran, Dr. Shaul Bakhash, Charshambeh-Siah means Black Wednesday, and was the name adopted by the group following a massacre on a Wednesday. [Dr. S. Bakhash, George Mason University, 18 January 1990.] He was not aware of any activities by the group abroad, nor was he aware of any recent activities of the group.
Following the revolution in February 1979, the first challenges to the new Iranian regime arose from regional nationalists first the Kurds, a month later, from the Arabs and the Baluchis. [ Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, (New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987), pp. 111-114, attached.] According to Dilip Hiro, author of a book entitled Iran Under the Ayatollahs, representatives of the Arab minority concentrated in the state of Khuzistan (about one half million people) demanded greater economic, language and employment rights. In World Minorities in the Eighties, the author adds that the Arabs were interested in more military appointments and in greater participation in the local administration. [ "Iran: Two Revolutions and Iranian Minorities", World Minorities in the Eighties, ed. Georgina Ashworth, Sunbury: Quartermaine House Ltd., p. 60.] The spokesperson for the Arab nationalists, Ayatollah Muhammad Taher Khaqani, asked for a reduction in the powers of the local Revolutionary Komitehs in Khuzistan, and on 26 April 1979, 100,000 Arabs in Khorramshahr demonstrated for regional autonomy in support of Khaqani. [ Hiro, pp. 112-113.]
Militant Arabs attacked oil installations and central forces. When Arab nationalists called a demonstration on 30 May 1979, government troops were ordered to fire on the crowd, which resulted in the deaths of from 21 to 100 persons. [Hiro, p. 113.] (Using a perpetual calendar, it was discovered that 30 May 1979 was a Wednesday, and may, in fact, be the Wednesday massacre referred to in the name Charsambeh-Siah.) Arab demonstrators in Abadan in July 1979 were also dispersed forcefully.
When the Iraqi forces invaded, Khuzistani Arab separatist sentiment appeared to revert to Iranian patriotism, and the Iraqi forces met with resistance. [ Hiro, p. 169.]
Further corroborating evidence of Arab nationalist movements is not currently available to the IRBDC.
2. Information on Charshambeh-Siah activities abroad is not currently available to the IRBDC.