Tehran – The Islamic Republic News Agency said on Thursday that the authorities in the Iranian city of Zahedan dismissed the police chief and head of a police station near the place where dozens of people were killed four weeks ago during the protests that swept the country.
According to observers, the regime’s attempt to quell the demonstrations and create a scapegoat for the lives lost in these incidents led to the removal of the security director.
Widespread criticism of the Zahedan deaths came from a prominent Sunni preacher, who claimed that top government figures, including the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were accountable “before God.” According to Amnesty International, the security forces’ harsh crackdown on September 30 resulted in at least 66 fatalities.
This was the bloodiest incident in the turmoil that erupted after the death of the Iranian Kurdish, Muhsa Amini (22 years) six weeks ago, following her detention with the Ethics Police for violating the restrictions imposed on women’s uniforms.
Human rights organisations believe that there are two million members of the Baluch minority living in Zahedan, near to Iran’s southeast border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, who have long endured discrimination and repression.
And Sistan and Baluchistan, one of the poorest regions of the nation and home to two ascetics, served as a haven for gunmen as Baluch terrorists attacked the Iranian security forces.
However, he admitted to “aspects of palaces” with the police, which he claimed had resulted in the dismissal of officials. The Regional Security Council claimed in a statement carried by official media that armed dissidents were to blame for the outbreak of clashes last month that resulted in the killing of innocent people.
The statement added that the families of the victims will be compensated and a legal investigation may lead to more procedures against those who have caused the outbreak of violence, rioters and any suspected violations suspected.
The extreme security measures and repression used by the Iranian security forces against peaceful protesters were denounced by a number of international human rights organisations.
Following accusations of rioting against roughly 300 protesters, the Iranian judiciary executed a number of them.
Iran is always connected between protest movements and external support in an attempt to discredit any demand for change as an external conspiracy, as the Iranian authorities have stressed its adoption of the conspiracy theory after the armed attack against a shrine in the Shiraz region, which killed a number of dead.
In an effort to sway protest movements, the Iranian government this week detained 10 persons in western Azerbaijan who claimed to be “agents working for Israel.”
Iran fires the Zahidan police commander in an effort to quell the demonstrations
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