Balochistan: Iranian Intelligence Agents Kill Teenage Baloch Student

DOZZAP (Zahedan): On January 30, 2024, the Iranian IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) detained a 19-year-old Baloch college student and informed his family that he would only be questioned about his online activities.

Three days later on 1 February 2024, the student Sepehr Sherani died due to torture in custody of the IRGC’s intelligence centre in Zahedan. His dead body with a bullet wound in the head was found on the rooftop of his house.

Sherani son of a Baloch dentist Dr Ali originally hailed from Fannuj and was residing in Zahedan – the capital city of Iranian Occupied Balochistan – at the time of his arrest and subsequent death.

While the family said they were unaware of the cause and circumstance of his death, the Iranian authorities namely IRGC tried to make it look like he committed suicide by shooting him in the head.

Threats to the family: After the failure of the provincial prosecutor’s scenario of Sepehr Shirani’s suicide, the IRGC claims that Sepehr was not in their custody at the time of his death and they have been threatening his family not to contradict their narrative.  

According to the Baloch activists’ campaign, after the killing of Sepehr Shirani in the IRGC intelligence detention centre, the IRGC is threatening the family of this Baloch youth to deny it.

“The scenario of Mehdi Shamsabadi, the prosecutor of Sistan and Baluchistan, about Sepehr’s “suicide” failed, now the IRGC and its affiliated media are publishing the scenario of the death of this Baloch youth at home,” the BAC reported.

Also, IRGC threatened Sepehr Shirani’s family to confirm this fake scenario and deny the news of his murder in the IRGC intelligence detention centre.

An independent source confirmed to Baloch Activists Campaign that Sepehr’s dead body has bruises, injuries and a fracture on his right hand.  Due to threats from the IRGC, Sepehr’s father Dr Ali has prevented anyone from photographing the wounds and bruises on his son’s body.

The reaction of Yad Sattar Beheshti’s mother: “Our silence today is complicity with criminals, our silence today is allowing them to kill us and our children,” reacted the mother of slain Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti. Sattar was tortured and killed by Iranian forces in November 2012.

Beheshti’s mother Gohar Eshghi is an Iranian complaint mothers who continue to seek justice and raise her voice against state atrocities in Iran.

She wrote on her Instagram page: “A few days ago, Anahita Amirpour, a young student, was killed in Borujerd. Today, I hear that an 18-year-old Baloch student named Sepehr Shirani was killed by IRGC criminals in Zahedan.”

Mrs. Gohar Eshghi continued to write: “I express my sympathy and condolences to our dear lost family. I express my sympathy to the zealous and steadfast people of “Sistan and Baluchistan”, I request the Iranian nation not to remain silent, our silence today is complicity with criminals, our silence today is allowing them to kill us and our children.

Conditional release of his dead body: Initially, the IRGC refused to hand over the dead body of Sepehr Sherani. Later they only released the dead body on condition that the family would remain silent and that they would not speak to anyone about the physical condition of the body.

Maulana Abdul Hamid seeks clarification: The well-known Sunni Baloch cleric Maulana Abdul Hamid demanded clarification from government agencies about how Sepehr Shirani was killed

He said: “Relevant agencies should clarify and explain to the people how Sepehr Shirani lost his life.”

Sepehr Shirani, a 19-year-old first-semester student at the University of Sistan and Baluchistan was the son of Dr. Ali (a dentist) from Fanuj and a resident of Zahedan.

New details about the killing of Sepehr Shirani: After the torture that led to Sepehr Shirani’s death, the forces of the intelligence agency made his death look like a suicide by shooting him in the head in a fake scenario.

According to Baloch Activists Campaign a source who did not want to be named due to security reasons said: “The forces of the intelligence agency killed Sepehr due to torture, and in a fake scenario, by shooting him in the head and taking him to the roof of the house, they made his death look like suicide.”

It should be noted that the military and intelligence forces threatened Sepehr several times because of his online activities and his presence in the Makki Masjid on continued Friday demonstrations in Zahedan.

Sherani was also strongly critical of Iranian forces’ heavy-handedness against Baloch people since the Zahedan Massacre or Bloody Friday.