Mon 08 March 2021:
The United Nations has said as many as 23 people were killed in Iran’s Sistan Baluchistan province when authorities opened fire on fuel porters and protestors last month.
The shooting of people carrying fuel across the border on February 22 led to protests that spread from the city of Saravan to other areas in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, including the capital, Zahedan.
“The series of violent events and unrest began on 22 February, when Revolutionary Guards are alleged to have shot and killed at least 10 fuel couriers, known as sookhtbar, in Sistan and Baluchistan Province at the border with Pakistan, after a two-day stand-off triggered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps blocking the road to the city of Saravan,” UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.
The killings had triggered demonstrations in several cities across the province, during which the Revolutionary Guard and security forces fired lethal ammunition at protesters and bystanders, he said.
Colville said that it has been difficult to verify the death toll due to disruptions of local mobile data networks, but some unconfirmed reports have estimated that as many as 23 people may have been killed.
“We call on the authorities to immediately restore Internet access in areas that remain disconnected,” he said.
According to Baluchi human rights defenders, two people, including a child, were fatally shot during the protests. A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville on Friday said, “According to some estimates, which we are unable to confirm, as many as 23 people may have been killed in all.”
“In Iran, we condemn use of force violations in recent weeks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and state security forces against unarmed fuel couriers and protesters belonging to the Baluch minority, which has reportedly led to the killing of at least 12 individuals, including at least two minors,” he said.
“We are deeply concerned by the widespread shutdown of the internet across several cities in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, with the apparent purpose of preventing access to information about what is happening there. Blanket internet shutdowns violate the principles of necessity and proportionality applicable to restrictions of freedom of expression and constitute a violation of international human rights law,” he added.
Located along Iran’s border with Pakistan, Sistan-Baluchestan is among Iran’s poorest provinces. The region is majority Sunni Muslim, whereas Iran’s population is majority Shiite. Baluch rights activists organised a demonstration in the Pakistani port city of Karachi this week to protest the violence.
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