Police Shooting 'Without Prior Warning' Leaves One Dead

A police shooting 'without prior warning' at a passenger vehicle in the Nahbandan area of South Khorasan Province resulted in the death of one of the vehicle's occupants. 'Halosh', which covers news related to Baluch citizens in Iran, reported that this shooting occurred on Thursday, September 29, by police officers from the Sarbisheh district in South Khorasan Province. 'Halosh' identified the deceased Baluch citizen as 21-year-old Amir Ahmad Sarani from Zabol, adding that the driver of the pursued vehicle, 32-year-old Habib Sarani, was also arrested by the officers with 'beating'. The report stated that these two Baluch citizens were shot while returning from Mashhad to Zabol. Military authorities have not provided an explanation for the officers' shooting at the vehicle of these citizens. According to the 'Law on the Use of Weapons by Armed Forces in Necessary Cases', passed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly in 1994, armed officers are required to give a 'prior warning' before using their weapons. Under this law, officers can only shoot at vehicles if they have 'loudly and clearly ordered the driver to stop and the driver has ignored the stop warning.' The indiscriminate shooting by military and police officers of the Islamic Republic has previously resulted in the deaths and injuries of numerous citizens. In the most recent incident, human rights sources reported on Sunday, September 11, that due to indiscriminate shooting by military forces in Khash, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, one citizen was killed and a child was injured. On August 7, three people, including a five-year-old child, were killed and two others injured due to the shooting by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at a vehicle in Khash. On August 1, a 31-year-old woman named Arzoo Badri was shot at in Noor County, Mazandaran Province, and reports indicate that the bullet hit her back, causing her to lose the ability to move. Last March, a 21-year-old citizen named Negar Karimi was killed after a police officer shot directly at her family's vehicle from close range in Aligudarz, Lorestan Province. According to 'Hrana', a news agency of human rights activists in Iran, at least 540 citizens were shot by the military forces of the Islamic Republic last year, resulting in 129 deaths. The death of a young man by police shooting was attributed to the use of 'war weapons outside of war'. At least three citizens were killed due to the shooting by military forces of the Islamic Republic; one child was injured. Two fuel carriers in Qaen were killed 'by military forces'. The shooting by IRGC officers at a vehicle in Khash resulted in five casualties, including two children.