Habib Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, vice-president of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al Ahwaz, was detained in Turkey and handed over to Iran’s government’s intelligence services on Friday evening, according to a statement released by the movement on the same night. The armed opposition group movement is based in Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz, and seeks to create an independent state in the area known to Arabs as Ahwaz.
“The abduction occurred with the collaboration of a certain Gulf country and Ahwazi figures,” the spokesperson of the movement added in the statement, not specifying who exactly was involved.
“We hold the state of Iran fully responsible for the life of Mr. Habib Asyud, and call upon the authorities of Sweden and Turkey, to further investigate the details of his abduction,” he added.
“The movement ensures that they will seek further details on the abduction of Mr. Habib Asyud and take every legal step required to assure his fate, and that he remains untouched,” he adds.
Tens of thousands of political prisoners are jailed in Iran over various charges, including advocating for democracy and promoting women's or workers' rights. Ethnic minority groups including Kurds, Arabs, and Azeris, are disproportionately detained and more harshly sentenced for acts of political dissidence, according to a July 2019 report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
Iranian official state media has not reported on the incident as of yet, however, an outlet close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed that Habib Asyud had been taken back to Iran.
“Habib Asyud, the head of a terrorist and separatist group, The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of al Ahwaz, was detained in Turkey and after being handed over to the Iranian officials he was transferred to Tehran via the West Azerbaijan border crossing and he is in the custody of Vaja [the ministry of Intelligence]” Bitawan reported on Saturday.
Asyud is the former President and the current Vice-President of “The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al Ahwaz”, an opposition group in Ahwaz city of Iran claiming that the Iranian authorities systematically violate the right of Arab population in Iran, is classified as a terrorist group by the Iranian government.
In September 2018, the movement claimed responsibility for an attack on an Iranian military parade, killing more than 25 people and injuring at least 60.
This is not the first time Iran has abducted opposition activists from abroad.
The IRGC intelligence operatives abducted Ruhollah Zam, a prominent Iranian journalist-turned-activist, from in Baghdad and returned him to Iran in late October 2019.
