Baloch protesters storm governor’s office in southeast Iran over killings

Fazel Hawramy
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Hundreds of Baloch protesters stormed a governor’s office in southeast Iran on Tuesday morning, in response to the brutal killing of at least ten fuel traders the day before, according to rights groups.  

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired on a group of fuel traders in the Saravan border area on Monday morning after the group protested about not being allowed to transfer fuel across the border with Pakistan, according to the Baloch Campaign, which monitors human rights violations in Sistan and Balochestan province.

“We have confirmation that ten people have died and five are wounded in the shooting on Monday morning,” Abdollah Aref, the head of the London-based group told Rudaw English, noting the number of wounded could be much higher. “The sookhtbars were stuck in the border area for two days and when they protested at the IRGC base, the guards responded with bullets.”

Sookhtbars are traders that carry untaxed fuel across the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan to make a living in the Baloch area of southeast Iran, one of the most impoverished parts of the country.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of Balochis stormed the office of the governor of Saravan, where the killings took place, setting alight the building and vehicles, according to Aref.

Vehicles posted on Baloch social media by activists show scenes of rocks being thrown, furniture and vehicles, including a police car, being lit on fire by protesters. Dozens of protesters in Baloch attire can be seen in a hall in one video, where two huge posters of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Islamic revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomenei feature in the background. The use of tear gas can be seen. 


The Baloch Campaign published the names of those killed and wounded in the incident, claiming that the internet was down in part of the province following the incident. 

Sistan and Balochestan province suffers from high levels of unemployment. According to Alim Yarmohammadi, an MP from the province in Iranian parliament at least three quarters of people in the province live under the poverty line. 

Many sookhtbars are killed by Iranian border guards and the IRGC every year. According to the Baloch Campaign, 46 traders died last year either at the hands of the security forces or after the security forces gave chase to their vehicles carrying fuels. Aref told Rudaw English that his organization received reports of over 70 killings, but could only verify the 46.

Human rights violations in Baloch areas often go unnoticed by both domestic and foreign media, as access to the province is highly restricted and its people fear talking to foreign reporters. At least 16 Baloch prisoners have been executed in recent months, according to the campaign.

“We are very disturbed by this trend of executions against Baloch minority prisoners on death row and by practices of enforced disappearance of persons belonging to minorities. We have previously communicated concerns of individuals from other minority groups who are at imminent risk or have been executed in Iran,” UN human rights experts said on February 4. “We call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately halt these executions and to overturn all death sentences ordered which are contrary to international human rights law.” 

In a separate incident, security forces gave chase to a vehicle near the city of Zabol that was said to be carrying illegal migrants. At least four people were killed and around ten others were wounded when the vehicle crashed, according to the rights group. Video of the scene of the crash showed at least five corpses of the group as onlookers walked around the dead.

State-run news agency IRNA reported that a car accident had taken place in the nearby town of Zahak, in which three people died and 13 others were wounded. The outlet did not state the cause of the accident.