Background
The citizens of Iran have been experiencing great turmoil over the past several decades. This has intensified since the disputed presidential election of June 2009. At that time any semblance of law and order all but disappeared as the “elected” president Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his supporters moved to quash all forms of opposition and dissent. More
than a year later, the events of the Arab Spring beginning in Tunis in December 2010,engendered great additional nervousness in the regime. This international phenomenon fomented both ongoing protests and increasingly severe crackdowns. Key instruments in the government persecution of perceived non-supporters are the national security guards, the police and the infamous volunteer force the Basij. All of these groups act without restraint or accountability and without consistent reference to national laws. Consequently Iran is now reported as the number 1 nation in term of violence against its own citizens.While the general picture is quite clear, comprehensive and detailed reporting has not been possible. Journalism and research are tightly monitored and controlled. Government propaganda cannot be challenged by objective analysis and opinion. Critics of the regime (and often their families) are imprisoned, tortured and even killed. It is therefore almost impossible to find solid information on some of the important sub-themes that have emerged,especially in relation to the Kurdish refugees who fled from Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s due to persecution by Saddam Hussein and his Baath party. It is common knowledge that these people and their descendants have been treated as second class citizens, at best. That generalisation, at least, is well documented. There are complex reasons for this and these
will be examined below. This group, known as Faili Kurds, are vulnerable to oppression and cannot count on the protection of the state. In practice the key oppressors are the Basij who
act at their own discretion, condoned by the rulers.
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