Deadly unrest plagues the Iranian city

Unrest erupted earlier this week when protesters stormed the building of a local governor and another police station. These incidents occurred in response to Revolutionary Guard patrols shooting at alleged fuel smugglers crossing the border with Pakistan, killing at least 10 people, according to human rights activists in the area.

Iran’s presidential team chief Mahmoud Vaezi this week blamed Pakistan’s border guards for the shooting, saying they shot smugglers who intended to use border points designated for fuel traders. The government said two or three people died.

A senior Pakistani official said he was not aware of any formal complaints or allegations by Iran against his country’s forces and that Pakistani troops did not open fire.

The Iranian government said on Thursday afternoon that the situation had calmed down, but that no attacker had been arrested. The latest unrest was limited to Saravan, but localized protests against economic discontent in the past have spread across the country.

The Internet and telephone lines were partially cut during the recent disturbances, according to social media users who track Internet traffic in Sistan-Baluchistan province, of which Saravan is a part. Restricting access to the Internet is a tactic used by Iranian officials to prevent the spread of information and limit communication between protesters.

In recent years, protests rooted in economic discontent have posed significant security challenges for the government and spawned large-scale crackdowns, most recently in late 2019, when hundreds were killed in a nationwide crackdown on protests. These protests were triggered by an increase in fuel prices.

The Iranian government blames U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump administration for the country’s economic situation, which has been exacerbated by the economic slowdown in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sistan-Baluchistan, the second largest of Iran’s 31 provinces by area, has for centuries been one of the poorest and most marginalized areas in the country. Its population consists mainly of Baloch, a Sunni Muslim minority.

Iranian officials have long maintained a strong security presence in the province because of a low-intensity insurgency involving several militant groups – some separatist nationalists, other Sunni Islamic extremists – who have been labeled terrorists by Tehran.

Provincial deputy security governor Mohammad Hadi Marashi told state media on Thursday that some of the attackers behind the protests were linked to opposition groups, without naming them.

Bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, the province is on the main route of drug trafficking from South Asia to Europe. Amid high inflation, currency devaluation and severely restricted international trade due to sanctions, oil smuggling outside Iran can offer significant illicit revenue. Iranians still enjoy some of the lowest fuel prices in the world due to large government subsidies.

President Hassan Rouhani said he would step up the fight against smuggling to improve the country’s economy. From March to November last year, Iranian authorities fined fuel and livestock smugglers some $ 570 million, an increase of almost 50% over the same period last year.

In recent days, Iranian social media users have accused authorities of resorting to violence against an impoverished population. Some drew parallels to the mass murder in the southwestern port city of Mahshahr in 2019, home to another Sunni minority, when Revolutionary Guard forces surrounded the protesters and killed up to 100 civilians.

The Defenders of Human Rights Center, a defense group led by Iranian Nobel winner Shirin Ebadi, wrote on Wednesday a letter to the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, calling for an investigation into the deaths by security forces in Sistan-Baluchistan. .

—Saeed Shah in Islamabad contributed to this article.

Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at [email protected]