19 Mar 2024
Saturday 27 February 2021 - 14:15
Story Code : 388096

Iran probes border shooting deaths that sparked protests

Iran is investigating the fatal shootings of at least two Iranians this week at the border with Pakistan, and Islamabad has handed over the body of one of the victims, the Iranian foreign ministry said on Friday.

Mondays shooting of at least two people carrying fuel across the border led to protests that spread across the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

Iran said the shooting occurred in Pakistan, but Pakistani border officials said protests broke out after Iranian forces fired at people involved in the illegal Iranian fuel trade.

A policeman was reported to have been killed in the unrest in Irans southeast, but a provincial security official said calm had returned with the help of religious leaders. Media quoted prominent Baluchi Sunni cleric Molavi Abdulhamid as urging calm and calling for an independent investigation.

The body of at least one person was delivered by Pakistans border guards. We are reviewing the incident, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told Iranian media.

Protesters stormed a governors office in southeastern Iran on Tuesday and set fire to a police car, according to videos posted on social media. Security forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the footage.

Sistan-Baluchestans population is predominantly Sunni Muslim, while most Iranians are Shiite. Iran has some of the lowest fuel prices in the world and has been fighting smuggling to neighborin countries.

Meanwhile, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet accused Iran of persistent impunity for human rights violations in regions including Sistan-Baluchestan.

In Iran, an apparently coordinated campaign has been targeting minority groups since December, including in Sistan and Baluchestan, Khuzestan, and in the Kurdish provinces, Bachelet told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva

Mass arrests and enforced disappearances have been reported, as well as increasing numbers of executions, following deeply flawed processes, Bachelet added.

There was no immediate official Iranian reaction to Bachelets allegations but Iran has repeatedly rejected similar criticism as being politically motivated and based on a lack of understanding of Tehrans Islamic laws.

Amnesty International and three other human rights groups issued a statement protesting against Irans curbs on the Internet in areas hit by the unrest, which authorities appear to be using as a tool to conceal gross human rights violations and possible ... extrajudicial killings.

 

Source: Reuters
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