GENEVA (Reuters) – At least a dozen people and possibly as many as 23 were killed in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan, where revolutionary guards and security forces used lethal force against fuel messengers from ethnic minorities and protesters, the United Nations said. United on Friday.
Iran is investigating an incident in which at least two Iranians were shot dead this week on the border with Pakistan, and Islamabad handed over the body of one of the victims, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said a week ago.
The shooting of people transporting fuel across the border has sparked protests that have spread from the city of Saravan to other areas in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, including the capital, Zahedan.
“The series of violent events and disturbances began on February 22, when Revolutionary Guards allegedly shot and killed at least 10 fuel messengers, known as sookhtbar, in Sistan and in the province of Balochistan, on the border with Pakistan, after resistance. two-day-off triggered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that blocks the road to the city of Saravan, “said UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville at a press conference in Geneva.
The deaths sparked demonstrations in several provincial cities, during which the revolutionary guard and security forces fired lethal ammunition at protesters and passers-by, he said.
Colville said it has been difficult to verify the death toll from disruptions to local mobile data networks, but some unconfirmed reports estimate that up to 23 people may have died.
“We ask the authorities to immediately restore access to the Internet in areas that remain disconnected,” he said.
The population of Sistan-Baluchistan is predominantly Sunni Muslim, while the majority of Iranians are Shia. Iran has one of the lowest fuel prices in the world and has been fighting smuggling into neighboring countries.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Emma Farge)