N
CRI – More than 4,000 people are protesting at the confiscation of their farmland in the Khorasan province town of Sarakhs by regime agents who want it to construct apartment buildings.
The Supreme Leader’s representative, the high ranking cleric Abbas Vaez-Tabasi – dubbed the Sultan of Khorasan – is leading the ‘land-grab’ outside the town with a population of around 40,000.
Vaez-Tabasi is also head of the Astan Quds Razavi, a conglomerate employing 19,000 people which runs auto plants, agricultural businesses, and other enterprises and it is worth an estimated $15 billion.
One furious farmer said of the protests which have been continuing for several days: “They have confiscated our land to construct apartment buildings because the lands are close to the city and have a very high price.”
Another farmer said: “We have been demanding that the authorities to look into this matter for over a month. They have no right to confiscate our land. We have gone to Tehran and Mashhad but no one has looked into our demands.
“Yesterday we held a protest but the authorities came and threatened us.
“Officials from Astan Quds Razavi came and confiscated our land. They have no documents and they are oppressing us. Astan Quds Razavi has no right here. People are miserable and unemployed we have nothing.”
“The issue is not one or two villages. Our demands do not just concern today or yesterday. We’ve been fighting Astan Quds Razavi for 20 years and getting nowhere.
“Anybody who speaks out gets arrested and sentenced. I left my children a week ago to come here and protests but no one is helping us.”
