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VOA – A human rights group covering Iran has identified 24 demonstrators among those detained Friday by authorities during protests in the country’s Zahedan region.
The Hengaw Human Rights Organization posted an online report Saturday identifying the Baloch detainees. Among them are five teenagers: Mohammad Amin Mohammadzehi, 14; Yaser Ali-Zehi, 17; Balal Rakhshani, 15; Yasin Isa-Zehi-Rigi, 17; and Mohammad Oweis Naruii, 16.
The organization said a substantial number of individuals were apprehended by security and military forces of the Islamic Republic during the protest.
Earlier, the Hal-Vash website, which covers news in Sistan and Baluchistan province, had documented the detention of 500 people Friday, confirming the identities of 19 of them. Baloch tribes, an ethnic minority, mainly live in the Sistan and Baluchistan province in western Iran.
According to Hal-Vash, security forces of the Islamic Republic used buses to transport the detainees to undisclosed destinations.
The group’s website reported that after Friday prayers at Zahedan’s Makki Mosque, security and military forces launched an assault on the protesters and laid siege to the Makki Mosque.
As per the report, security and military forces attempted to enter the Makki Mosque.
Hengaw said some of the detainees in Zahedan had suffered injuries from physical assaults, raising “serious concerns regarding their well-being while in the custody of security authorities.”
During his sermon on October 13, Molavi Abdul Hamid, the Sunni Friday prayer imam in Zahedan, referred to the Israel-Hamas conflict and invited both sides to de-escalate. He stated that neither Muslims nor Jews can annihilate one another.
Since October 2022, there have been weekly protests in Zahedan and some Baloch-populated cities in Iran. The gatherings followed the reported killing last year of demonstrators who were protesting the alleged “assault by a police commander on a Baloch girl” after Friday prayers.
On September 30, 2022, officers in Zahedan opened fire in response to protesters and bystanders who were expressing their disapproval of how authorities handled the case of a local law enforcement commander accused of assaulting a Baloch girl. At least 100 people were killed in the incident, and hundreds more were wounded.
The day has been dubbed “Bloody Friday in Zahedan,” and the Friday protests in Zahedan have continued ever since.
