Ahwaz and the confessions of 15 British servicemen

By Reza Vashahi

The arrest of 15 British naval personnel in Iraqi waters has again indicated the importance of Shat al Arab waterway and the Ahwaz area, south of Iraq, in general, and all the Arabian Gulf area.

As the story of the captured British officers reached the point when the Iranian authorities showed them confessing in front of the camera, it reminded viewers of the previous showing of the10 Arab Ahwazi men who were executed during the past three months.

The Arab Ahwazi men who appeared on Iranian state TV confessing their involvement with a foreign country and taking part in bombing were all pale and nervous, their eyes was listless, no life, no smiles. These were the symptoms of psychological pressure and torture.

This is not the first time that the Iranian government has staged political confession propaganda. It started after the 1979 revolution and since then many political leaders, members and supporters, has been seen on TV confessing to what the Iranian government wanted them to confess.

Under increasing international pressure, the Iranian government have released the 15 British personnel. Because they did not gain anything out of it, not even the release of their captured intelligence service men in Arbil city, in the north of Iraq; they had to present their release as an Islamic amnesty, an Easter gift to the British people, lying about a letter of apology from the UK government.

Today the released personnel have told the real story behind their confessions, of how they were kept in solitary confinement, experiencing sleep deprivation and torture, physical and psychological. To those in touch with the ongoing political situation in Iran it is a familiar story.

Yet these 15 people are lucky to have been released. Most people never escape the hangman’s noose after confessing in Iran. Many human rights activists consider a confession on Iranian TV as the point of no return. Usually after the Iranian government has shown someone confessing, there will be no amnesty. It is a clear alarm signal.

No doubt in the long term this latest confession video will cause more harm to the Iranian government, which has a long history of taking hostages, like the US embassy siege in 1980 and the Ahwazi children in prison in Karoon. At the same time the number of stories of Iran’s involvement in Iraq is going up and up.

This month it will have been 83 years since Ahwaz lost self rule and power. It has suffered a lot through these kinds of confessions. May the main waterway of Shat al Arab soon be back to its right direction.