An Iranian human rights organisation has reported that up to 260 Afghans have been killed or seriously wounded by Iranian border police while trying to cross into Iran, a claim Tehran has vehemently denied.
The report, from Halvah, states that at least 300 Afghans were trying to cross into Sistan and Baluchestan province on Sunday evening when border police armed with RPGs opened fire, allegedly killing scores of them. Halvah said it had spoken to two Afghans who witnessed the incident, as well as sources in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, reported by The New Humanitarian.
According to reports from the Halvash News Agency, dozens of Afghans were killed recently in the Kalgan Saravan region, in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province.
Some eyewitnesses say the incident was a “deliberate attack”, which sparked outrage among former Afghan officials, including former Attorney General Mohammad Farid Hamidi, who calls the action a “crime against humanity” and urges the United Nations and international human rights groups to act.
For some time now, Iranian authorities have been pushing for the more or less voluntary return of Afghan migrants, and to this end, they are preventing Afghan children from attending Iranian schools.
In the past, gangs operating with impunity along the Turkish-Iranian border have abducted Afghan migrants for ransom, leading Turkish authorities to start building a wall to stop migrants and smugglers.
According to the Asia news, Afghanistan’s Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, and the Iranian Ambassador and Special Representative for Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, met recently to discuss the matter.
On X, the Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation says that it is in favour of the return of migrants and has agreed with Iran to send a delegation to Tehran to address the challenges of Afghan migrants, noting that the Afghan government plans to repatriate migrants from Iran, but this process requires a jointly coordinated plan.
During the meeting, Ambassador Kazemi Qomi rejected media reports of mistreatment of Afghan migrants in Iran, stressing that Iran is committed to respecting all the rights of migrants. However, recent reports from the border areas between the two countries tell a different story.
The Iran Human Rights Organisation (Halvash) reports deliberate violence against migrants, citing two Afghan witnesses who survived a massacre in which others were shot to death by Iranian border guards.
The victims were trying to cross the border and enter Iran from Pakistan. Some 260 out of 300 were killed or wounded. One source said that only 60 survived, while the rest were killed or seriously wounded.
Tolo News quoted an “Iranian human rights organisation” saying that Iranian border guards had attacked the migrants.
Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration has not confirmed the incident and said it was investigating.
Tolo News quoted an “Iranian human rights organisation” saying that Iranian border guards had attacked the migrants.
Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration has not confirmed the incident and said it was investigating.
The United Nations’ Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a statement expressed “deep concern over disturbing reports of an incident on 14 to 15 October in Sistan province, Sarbaz district, Kala Gan border area of Iran, with allegations that a large group of Afghan migrants were opened fire on, resulting in deaths and injuries.”
The United Nations’ Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a statement expressed “deep concern over disturbing reports of an incident on 14 to 15 October in Sistan province, Sarbaz district, Kala Gan border area of Iran, with allegations that a large group of Afghan migrants were opened fire on, resulting in deaths and injuries.”
