Gross Human Rights Violations Perpetrated by the Iranian Regime against Baloch People in Iran, Sabah Bandoui, BHRG

National and international media, as well as the international community remain silent and fail to improve or even just acknowledge the horrible human rights situation in Balochistan. Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran interpret this silence as a sign of approval, or at least disregard for the gross human rights violations perpetrated against Baloch civilians.

Security and equality are the most precious and important factors of paving the route of development for the individual and groups’ life in a society. Baloch people in Iran face discrimination in all aspects of their lives from birth till death. But the situation of security for Baloch people has become worse, since 2009 when the enforcement of security in Balochistan was formally passed into the hands of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards of Iran, to be specific, the section called MERSAAD, which is part of QODS forces, the international branch of the Revolutionary Guard.
Revenge executions of imprisoned Baloch activists by the official prosecutors of Balochistan, (http://unpo.org/downloads/774.pdf), or executing all the men in some villages of Balochistan are officially confirmed by the Iranian authorities in national media in Iran during the last few years, (http://www.euronews.com/2016/02/24/iran-a-whole-village-s-menfolk-executed).
Dumping the bodies of executed Baloch prisoners in unknown places, to hide the signs of harsh torture on their bodies from the families and furthermore depriving family members from their last good bye to their beloved ones, has been reported by the families in the past, with the above mentioned killings being one of many reported.
Some of the effects and results of the regime’s militarisation and discriminatory policies in Balochistan is the high number of arrest and executions of Baloch people; Umar Farooq from the Wall Street Journal wrote in December 2013 that: “Baluchis, who are 2% of Iran’s population, have accounted for at least 20% of executions since 2006[4].” Those numbers are based on figures gathered by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, a Washington D.C based group which monitors human rights abuses in Iran. “The actual number may be much higher, according to Ms. Roya Boroumand, Head of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation: “it is becoming more difficult to track executions of Balochis, as Iranian authorities increasingly move Balochi prisoners outside the region (http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/12/05/the-battle-for-sistan-baluchistan/).
In recent months, the Islamic regime of Iran’s security forces have intensified their systematic use of cruel human rights violations against Baloch people, using in particular extrajudicial executions and killings to further terrorize the population of Baloch people. Worse still, the Iranian authority systematically targets young Baloch men, by first trapping and illegally detaining them, accusing them of drug trafficking, then obtaining false ‘confessions’ through the use of torture. This labelling of innocent civilians as drug traffickers is a well-known strategy used by the regime in Tehran to physically eliminate the Baloch people and has been used by the regime ever since it seized power. Amnesty International, in one of its reports, also highlighted that the Iranian regime systematically executes Baloch activists under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking .

National and international media, as well as the international community remain silent and fail to improve or even just acknowledge the horrible human rights situation in Balochistan. Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran interpret this silence as a sign of approval, or at least disregard for the gross human rights violations perpetrated against Baloch civilians. Tragically, it thus does not come at a surprise that Iran has one of the highest rates of executions in the world, while the rate of executions of Baloch people is the highest in Iran.

One example for this deplorable situation is the case of a group of young Baloch fishermen. Being just an ordinary crew member on a fishing boat on the Gulf, they were arrested and accused of drug trafficking, later being executed. Following a kangaroo trial and without even having had access to a defense lawyers or a fair trial. On 10th September 2016 the young Baloch were executed in Bandar Abbas, a city on the northern coast of the Gulf. According to “Balochistan Human Rights Group”, the families of these young men pointed out that their executed family members had been the families’ breadwinners and had been out for a fishing trip when they were arrested and later accused of being drug traffickers.

The government’s Policy of “shoot to kill” in Balochistan that is being enforced by its “Islamic Revolutionary Guards”, is taking the lives of tens of innocent young Baloch people every year under the pretext of drug traffickers and fuel smugglers. The latest example of this policy took place in the morning of 11th September 2016, when Mr Hamidollah Gamshadzahi, a teacher of Makki religious school in Zahedan, while driving to his work place was shot and seriously injured by plain clothed security forces(3).

A few days ago, on 13th September 2016, in the center of Chabhar city in Balochistan, a 6 years old boy while relaxing at the back seat of his father car, got killed as a result of shooting by unknown armed men aiming to confiscate the car. Next day hundreds of young men accompanied by the local MP, demonstrated in front of the local Governor’s Office and raised the question of why all armed robberies happening to Baloch people and no necessary action taken by the security law enforcement authorities?! While the rumors about the policy of deliberate instability by the authorities become more evident.

Publisher: bb