At least 82 people have been killed since Friday in the crackdown on protests that erupted in Zahedan, a city in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, the NGO Amnesty International said Thursday.
“Iranian security forces unlawfully killed at least 66 people, including children, and injured hundreds more after opening fire” on protesters, bystanders and worshipers, the organization said.
Since then, “a further sixteen people have been killed in separate incidents in Zahedan as part of the ongoing crackdown on these protests,” according to Amnesty.
During “Zahedan Bloody Friday”, as NGOs call it, security forces put down a protest that had broken out after prayers.
baluchi minority
The protest was sparked by allegations that a police chief in the port city of Chabahar, also in that province, raped a 15-year-old girl from the Baloch Sunni minority, according to the NGO Iran Human Rights.
Reports posted on social media reported dozens of deaths in Zahedan on Friday, while images showed overwhelmed hospitals and bloodied corpses.
The clashes took place in a broader context of protests across the country, which erupted almost three weeks ago after the death of Mahsa Amini, detained by the moral police. They are also severely repressed.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan, is one of the poorest regions in Iran and home to the minority Baluchis, who mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and not Iran’s dominant Shiism.
In recent months, activists have complained about the disproportionate number of Baluch convicts executed, while hangings in the Islamic Republic rise.
Source: BFM TV
