According to reports tallied by human rights defenders, Iranian authorities killed and injured at least five citizens, including a five-year-old boy, within 48 hours. Meanwhile, the ayatollahs have intensified oppressive measures in the weeks leading up to the Presidential election.
Targeting Iranian Baluch Citizens in Southeastern Provinces
On May 10, during a chase, anti-narcotics forces bogusly targeted a similar vehicle contributing to the death of five-year-old Baluch boy Meysam Naruei and injury of his mother in Iranshahr, in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Following the crime, local people gathered protesting the forces. In response, the anti-narcotics forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrators and injured several more, according to local reports and videos circulated on social media.
#IranProtests
Sistan&Baluchestan—security forces killed a 5yo Baluch boy, wounded his mother in Iranshahr.
In response to people's protests, the forces opened fire on defenseless protesters.
The world's silence over #HumanRightsViolations in Iran paves the path for more crimes. pic.twitter.com/aWMHOEpLt2— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) May 10, 2021
Furthermore, in another incident, the State Security Forces chased the car of Iranian Baluch Moslem Jafari at the Hashtbandi district in Minab county, in the southern province of Hormozgan.
The SSF’s chase led to Jafari’s car overturning and the death of this fuel porter. Due to the rampant poverty in this region, many people resort to harmful and risky jobs like transferring fuel to make ends meet. However, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) mercilessly target these poor citizens given their profiteering policies.
In this context, anti-narcotics forces fatally shot Iranian Baluch Mohammad Amin Shah-Bakhsh in the suburb of Bam city, the southeastern province of Kerman, on May 8.
Above-mentioned crimes have prompted public ire and led netizens to vent their anger over the authorities’ cold-blood murders on social media. “#StopKillingBalochs” immediately trended on Twitter in a backlash to killing of Baluchi citizens, especially five-year-old Meysam.
Targeting Porters in Kurdish Region
Meanwhile, the IRGC border guards chased 30-year-old Iranian Kurdish Farzad (Parviz) Jabbari at the Mergur district in Urmia, the capital of the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan.
Jabbari jumped into a river to escape form merciless IRGC forces. However, he could not succeed and drowned. He was the father of a little girl.
On the other hand, Iranian border guards at the Piranshahr region in West Azarbaijan province opened fire on another Iranian Kurdish porter and injured him severely. According to Kurdish sources, the wounded porter was identified Ako Ghaderi. He had gone to Mashkan border to earn some meager money through transferring heavy cargos.
In Iran, given a systematic discrimination particularly in Baluchi, Kurdish, and Arab regions, the residents of these areas suffer from additional poverty, financial difficulties, and unemployment.
They have been forced to transferring heavy cargos or fuel to feed their families. However, the SSF and border guards steadily target these poor people resulting in hundreds of deaths every year.
In February, the IRGC opened fire on a group of fuel porters in Saravan city, murdered, and injured several citizens. In response to the government’s cruel action, many people flooded onto the streets and raided and conquered state offices and security centers.
“At least 40 protesters have been killed in yesterday and today’s brutal attacks, and over 100 people wounded and hospitalized, some in critical condition. The IRGC also set fire to dozens of vehicles with which the porters transferred their fuel,” stated the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on February 23.
