Yusef Azizi Bani-Torof

Yusef Azizi Bani-Torof (b. 1951 in Hoveizeh, Iran) is an Iranian Arab journalist and activist living in Tehran. He is also an advocate for the Iranian Arab community of the Khuzestan province. Bani-Torof is a member of the "Association of Iran's Writers" and has translated many works from Arabic to Persian. As his surname indicates, he is from the "Bani Torof" (in Arabic meaning "Children of Torof") Arab clan.

On 25 April 2005 he was arrested at his home by security forces in connection with the Arab youth riots in Khuzestan earlier that month and held at Evin Prison with other Iranian journalists and dissidents. He was released in June 2005. [http://www.ahwaz.org.uk/2005/06/ahwazi-arab-political-prisoner.html]

On 10/08/2008 he was sentenced to five years in prison. He is appealing the decision.

Quotes

* "(The) Arabs of Khuzestan, as a nation or an ethnic group (or whatever you like to call it), are inseparable parts of the Iranian nation." [http://www.ahwaz.org.uk/images/identity.pdf]

ee also

* Politics of Khuzestan
* Ethnic minorities in Iran

External links

* [http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?ArchiveNews=Yes&NewsCode=31334&NewsKind=CurrentAffairs Report concerning arrest from IranMania]
* [http://www.cyrusnews.com/news/en/?mi=5&ni=184 Report concerning arrest from Cyrus News Agency]
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