Iran Human Rights Organization Calls for Investigation of 'Bloody Friday in Zahedan' as 'Crime Against Humanity'

The Iran Human Rights Organization, coinciding with ongoing protests in Sistan and Baluchestan on the anniversary of 'Bloody Friday in Zahedan', urged the international community to investigate the 'government massacre in Zahedan' as a 'crime against humanity'. On Saturday, October 8, this human rights entity highlighted the 'extent' and 'organization' of the 'massacre' of the Baluch people during Bloody Friday in Zahedan and emphasized the possibility of achieving justice against the Islamic Republic, calling for the case of this massacre to be referred to international judicial bodies. Following protests against the assault of a police commander on a teenage Baluch girl on October 8, 2022, police officers in Zahedan opened fire on protesters and passersby, resulting in the deaths of at least one hundred people and injuries to hundreds more. This day has been dubbed 'Bloody Friday in Zahedan', and the protest Fridays that began thereafter have continued to this day. Molavi Abdulhamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, announced that some of the injured from Bloody Friday have gone blind, and some have become paralyzed or lost their legs. Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, the director of the Iran Human Rights Organization, described the 'massacre of over a hundred male, female, and child protesters' as a case of 'crime against humanity' and called for the 'trial' of Ali Khamenei and the 'repressive forces under his command'. The director of the Iran Human Rights Organization referred to this event as one of the 'bloodiest crimes in the past thirty years' of the Islamic Republic's rule and noted the ongoing weekly protests of the people of Zahedan over the past year, stating that 'the Islamic Republic has failed to break the resistance of the people of Baluchestan in their quest for their fundamental rights.' Some legal experts have compared the speed of handling the cases of protesters and their executions with the lack of verdicts for those accused of the massacre of over a hundred people in Zahedan after a year. Mohsen Barahani, a legal expert critical of the government, referred to this as 'inconsistency in judicial policy'. On the anniversary of Bloody Friday in Zahedan, on October 7 of this year, repressive forces again fired on protesters in various cities of Sistan and Baluchestan or used tear gas. According to human rights sources, about 30 protesters were injured, and more than 50 others, including several children, were subjected to 'widespread and mass' arrests by government agents in several cities including Zahedan, Khash, and Mirjaveh. Morteza Nakhlahmadi, a journalist, in an interview with VOA, attributed the continuation of the protest Fridays in Zahedan to the multitude of unanswered demands and the wisdom of Molavi Abdulhamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan.