The Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO, headquartered in Norway, said on Tuesday that at least 63 people were killed last week when Iranian security forces “bloodily crushed” a protest in the city of Zahedan in southeast Iran.
Last week, fighting broke out after Friday prayers in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, the home of the Baluch ethnic minority, who mostly practise Sunni Islam rather than the Shiism that predominates in Iran.
The event happened in the middle of the widespread protests that broke out when Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the morality police, died.
However, rights organisations claim that allegations that a police commander in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Baluchistan, had raped a 15-year-old Baluch girl, were what initially triggered the demonstration in Zahedan.
IHR increased the previous death toll of 41 by stating, “On September 30, people gathered after Friday prayer in Zahedan to protest against the rape of a Baluch 15-year-old girl by Chabahar’s police head, which was bloodily crushed by security forces.”
Social media accounts from the time mentioned scores of deaths on Friday in Zahedan, while pictures from the time showed overcrowded hospitals and bloodied bodies.
In hospitals, individuals have reportedly allegedly perished from a lack of beds and bandages to stem the bleeding.
Security personnel allegedly opened fire on protestors from helicopters, according to activists. According to IHR, a military helicopter in the north of Zahedan opened fire on a vehicle with an open roof, killing four individuals inside.
The identities of all 67 of the people who were reportedly slain, as well as the names of the 300 people who were injured, have been made public on the Baluch Activists Campaign’s Telegram channel.
However, according to Iranian official media, a “terrorist event” resulted in the deaths of five Revolutionary Guardsmen.
On state television, Sistan-police Baluchistan’s head said that three police stations had been assaulted in the region.
Sistan-Baluchistan is one of Iran’s poorest provinces; it borders Pakistan. In recent months, activists have expressed their displeasure at the disproportionate frequency of hangings of Baluch offenders in the Islamic Republic.
Regular conflicts between security personnel and drug trafficking gangs, as well as sporadic attacks by Sunni Muslim extremist organisations, have also occurred in the region.
