Accused Officers in the Bloody Friday Massacre of Zahedan Sentenced to a Maximum of 10 Years in Prison

The head of the judiciary in Sistan and Baluchestan has reported on the case of the Bloody Friday in Zahedan, stating that a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison has been imposed on the accused officers. Ali Mohammadi Rad, on Sunday, January 13, stated in what Iranian media referred to as a 'meeting with tribal leaders and elders of the province' that the charge of 'premeditated murder' was brought against the officers, but since it was not determined 'who exactly shot these individuals and from what weapon the shots were fired,' instead of a retribution sentence, blood money was considered, and a 10-year prison sentence was issued for the officers. He did not provide further explanation as to why it was not determined what weapon was used to shoot the citizens of Zahedan. On October 8, 2022, during the protests of 'Women, Life, Freedom' spreading across Iran, a group of people in Zahedan gathered after Friday prayers at the Makki Mosque to protest what they called 'the assault by Ibrahim Kuchakzai, the police chief of Chabahar, on a teenage Baluch girl.' However, security forces reacted to the protesting people by directly firing at the crowd from inside a police station, and according to Baluch activists, about 100 people were killed in this shooting. This day has been referred to in the Iranian calendar as Bloody Friday in Zahedan or Black Friday in Zahedan. Human Rights Watch stated that 'Bloody Friday' in Zahedan was the deadliest crackdown of 2022 in Iran. Molavi Abdul Ghafar Naqshbandi, a government critic and temporary Friday prayer leader in Rask, was the first Sunni cleric to confirm the assault on the Baluch teenage girl and called for the prosecution and punishment of the then police chief of Chabahar. He is currently outside of Iran. The head of the judiciary in Sistan and Baluchestan cited the two-year delay in addressing this case as 'the fear of some people in approaching the judicial system' and claimed that complaints were raised after 'building trust.' He also reported the presence of individuals without identification or with Afghan nationality among the victims, stating that the lack of inheritance certificates also slowed down the proceedings of this case. Since the events of Bloody Friday in Zahedan, Molavi Abdul Hamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, has repeatedly called for the prosecution of those responsible for the massacre of about 100 people on Bloody Friday. In late February 2023, the court sessions for this case were held over two sessions, and the head of the court asked the families of the victims to accept blood money without hearing their statements, but they opposed this. The head of the judiciary in Sistan and Baluchestan also claimed that the blood money for the victims had been determined and paid, and the families would also benefit from the advantages of 'martyr and veteran families' at the directive of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Amid the protests of 2022 and just one month after the events of Bloody Friday in Zahedan, during other protests held on Friday, November 4, 2022, in the city of Khash, 16 people were killed by government and security officials. The Baluch Activists Campaign reported that some families of the victims of Bloody Friday in Zahedan had previously told the campaign's reporter: 'The case of the deceased and the injured was closed about a year ago due to meetings of some known individuals with government officials, and many of the deceased had previously received blood money.' A family member of the victims of Bloody Friday in Zahedan, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Baluch Activists Campaign that the families 'still demand retribution against the perpetrators and instigators of the Bloody Friday massacre in Zahedan and Khash, and anyone who is trying to coerce or persuade them with the payment of blood money is certainly complicit in this crime.'