Balochistan: Iranian forces shot dead 19-year-old Baloch youth

DOZZAAP (Zahedan): The Iranian forces have shot dead a 19-year-old Baloch fuel trader in Kouhak-Saravan Highway on Monday 15 February in the western part of occupied Balochistan.

According to details, the Iranian officials opened indiscriminate fire on Mohammad Sanjarzahi son of Delmurad’s car without prior warning and killed him on the spot.

Mohammad was a resident of Zahedan – the capital of Iranian occupied Balochistan he was shot at on suspicion of transporting drugs.  

“After brutally killing Mohammad, the Iranian security officers discovered only a gallon of 60 litres of gasoline in the vehicle,” the Campaign for Baloch Activists has reported.

The ‘security forces’ have shifted Mohammad dead body to the morgue instead of handing it over to his family.

Mr. Sanjarzahi’s family and relatives are said to have complained to security forces.

However, the Campaign for Baloch Activists quoted a source as saying, “after the complaint Mohammad’s family the Iranian forces have refused to hand over the dead body them.

“The family is being pressurised to withdraw the complaint and pay the bullets that they fired at him. Upon meeting these conditions the dead body of Mohammad will be released to his family.”

Mohammad Sanjarzehi was said to be the breadwinner of the family and has worked as a fuel trader driver.

He has three sisters and a younger brother, and his father was killed by security forces in Soran region of Saravan Balochistan in 2009.

separately, the Iran HRM reported that the state security forces had previously shot and killed another Baluch man and injured one in Sistan and Baluchestan Province on February 13.

Anti-narcotics agents in Sistan and Baluchestan shot at Qasem Arzi Zehi’s car without initial warning. His car overturned leading to his death, while another unidentified man who was with him was injured.

Dozens of Baluchi citizens including innocent bystanders are killed every year in what the authorities call “anti-smuggling operations” in Sistan and Baluchestan Province.

The Campaign for Baloch Activists in their annual report revealed that last year 46 fuel and goods traders were killed due to direct shooting or overturning of the car during the chase and catching fire as Iranian forces opened fire on them.

The deaths have increased by 10% compared to the previous year, CBA said adding, several deaths were due to lack of emergency supplies and first aid by the highway police.

Sources also complain that in many cases the Iranian forces turned away after directly shooting at vehicles causing them to caught fire deliberately letting the victims succumb to death.   

The CBA also reported that more than 21 fuel traders including a 17-year-old boy were injured as a result of Iranian forces direct firing at them.

The Iran HRM further maintained, “Sistan and Baluchestan is one of Iran’s poorest provinces. There are no jobs in the area and even educated people have to resort to smuggling fuel to make a living.

“Those living in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province are facing untold social and economic problems because of longstanding deprivation and poverty, which is becoming worse as inequality becomes more pronounced.

“Some have even fled the province for neighbouring Kerman, which itself is one of the poorest provinces in the country, where the Baluch people live in tents, with no electricity or running water.”

Also, according to the Iran HRM, On September 5, 2020, Ali Khezrian, a member of the Parliament (Majlis), said: “We travelled to the city of Iranshahr, the second-largest city in southeast Iran, and visited its villages. Unfortunately, the people of this area are deprived of facilities, such as showers and toilets. There were no suitable electricity facilities in the villages.”