Khuzestan Province is a petroleum-rich, ethnically-diverse province in southwestern Iran. Oil fields in the province include Ahvaz Field, Marun, Aghajari, Karanj, Shadegan and Mansouri. Amnesty International has voiced human-rights concerns about Khuzestan's Arab population, and United Nations special rapporteur Miloon Kothari has also drawn attention to Arab displacement and poverty among the Laks. Background Khuzestan Province is inhabited by a number of ethnic groups: the Bakhtiari, Arabs, Qashqai, Afshar, Persians and Armenians. Half of the province is inhabited primarily by Arabs, and the other half is inhabited primarily by Lurs. Khuzestan's ethnic diversity affects its politics, with ethnic-minority rights playing a significant role. The province's location (bordering Iraq) and its oil resources make it a politically-sensitive region due to its history of foreign intervention, notably the 1980 Iraqi invasion. Ethnic groups, particularly some Arab groups, express grievances. According to Jane's Information Group, "Most Iranian Arabs seek their constitutionally guaranteed rights and do not have a separatist agenda ... While it may be true that some Arab activists are separatists, most see themselves as Iranians first and declare their commitment to the state's territorial integrity." Politicians Former Iranian minister of agriculture Mohammad Reza Eskandari, Mohsen Rezaee (secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council), and several parliamentary committee chairs are from Khuzestan. Ali Shamkhani, an Arab from Ahvaz, was minister of defense from 1997 to 2005 as part of President Mohammad Khatami's government. The Iraqi-born Ayatollah Mohsen Araki was a Khuzestan representative in the Assembly of Experts, the personal representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the Supreme Leader of Iran) in London, and headed the Islamic Centre of England until 2004. Human rights Amnesty International routinely raises human rights concerns relating to Khuzestan's Arabs through linking with separatists websites who provide information, in particular the arrest and detention of political activists, torture and executions. While Khuzestan is not unique in terms of its human rights record, Amnesty notes that often these abuses are related to institutional discrimination. In its report entitled New government fails to address dire human rights situation published in February 2006, Amnesty states: In 1997, Human Rights Watch reported that "Iranian Arabs, an ethnic minority centered in southwest Iran, have cited significant restrictions on their language and culture, and on their right to participate effectively in decisions affecting the area in which they live." According to another report in the same year, "Arabic is not taught in elementary schools, and the