Security Forces Raid Sunni School in 'Rigan' County, Kerman, Detaining Several 'Stateless' Teenagers

On Sunday, August 7, security and military forces raided a Sunni religious school in Rigan County, Kerman Province, detaining several 'stateless' teenage students and summoning the school's director, effectively shutting down the institution. According to the Halosh website, the military and security forces sealed off the 'Quran Memorization Branch of the Sunni Community in Rigan' and violently arrested several stateless teenage students, using physical force and insults. Sources indicate that the exact identity and number of the detained students, aged between 13 and 14, remain unknown, and the school's director, Sadiq Shahiki, has been summoned to the county's intelligence office. The public and revolutionary prosecutor's office in Bam County had previously threatened Sadiq Shahiki, a religious studies teacher, stating that 'if you teach migrant students at the school, you will be arrested.' Earlier, a Sunni educational center in Bam was destroyed by military forces in June, and Sadiq Shahiki was one of the scholars who protested against this military action. According to Halosh, the Islamic Republic has intensified threats, pressure, and widespread arrests of Baluch citizens and Sunni scholars under fabricated charges and forced confessions over the past two years, especially following the massacre of people during the 'Bloody Friday' in Zahedan, frequently attacking Sunni religious schools and detaining students and teachers. The issue of the Islamic Republic's inappropriate and security-focused treatment of stateless individuals has gained new dimensions following the killing of Khodad Nour Lajahi. Previously, the ILNA news agency reported that 'several thousand' individuals have been deprived of education due to lack of identification documents, stating that these individuals are denied subsidies, oil quotas, insurance, education, property deeds, and many opportunities available to those with identification. Stateless individuals are primarily marginalized residents in various regions of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, who have engaged in livestock and agriculture over the decades but have not sought identification due to their remoteness from the center, while some remain stateless for other reasons, including historical political issues (even before the 1979 revolution), and now their children face difficulties in accessing government services and citizenship rights.