DailyExpertNews
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According to human rights watchdog Amnesty International, up to 10 people, including children, were killed on Friday.
In several Twitter posts on Friday, Amnesty said security forces had fired live ammunition at “peaceful protesters from the rooftops of the governor’s office and several other buildings” in Khash city in Sistan and Baluchestan province.
Bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, the province is home to members of the long-oppressed, predominantly Sunni Muslim Baluch ethnic minority and has a history of unrest.
Friday’s violence comes amid nationwide protests against the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died after being detained by the vice squad in Tehran.
Recently, large-scale demonstrations have also taken place in Zahedan, the state capital of Sistan and Baluchestan, following the alleged rape of a Baluch girl by the police chief.
Authorities removed the chief of police in Zahedan last week, but protests continued and on Thursday a high-ranking Shia cleric was shot dead by masked gunmen in Zahedan, according to state news agency IRNA.
According to state media and activists, protests against the authorities turned violent on Friday in several cities in southeastern Iran, including Khash. A state media-posted video from the city showed plumes of smoke rising from a building.
In its reports, Amnesty cited witnesses and images obtained from various sources.
The group said it was “seriously concerned about further bloodshed amid internet outages and reports from authorities bringing more security forces from Zahedan to Khash.”
“The Iranian authorities must immediately rein in the security forces. UN member states should immediately express their concerns to Iran’s ambassadors and support the establishment of an independent investigative mechanism by the UN Human Rights Council,” Amnesty said.
The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Unions (CCITTA) also tweeted Friday that at least 16 protesters were killed and dozens more injured after Iranian security forces opened fire on protesters in Khash.
DailyExpertNews cannot independently verify the death toll from Amnesty or the CCITTA. An exact death toll is impossible for those outside the Iranian government to confirm. The numbers differ per opposition group, international rights organizations and local journalists.
A video shared to DailyExpertNews by Khash activist outlet IranWire appears to show several protesters lying injured and unconscious on the ground after loud gunfire rang out in the background.
Meanwhile, the semi-official Fars News Agency posted images to Twitter of charred cars and damaged buildings, with a caption attributing the damage to “rioters.”
Several people were killed and injured during Friday’s unrest in Khash, Fars said in the tweet.
“The government, the Jihad Agriculture building and several other government buildings, several kiosks and police cars, passenger cars and almost all banks were set on fire by rioters,” Fars added.
Fars claimed the protests in Khash took place after Friday prayers at a Sunni mosque in the area.