More than a month after the protests in Saravan over the killing of Baluch fuel traders, the fate of at least 16 Baluch citizens arrested and their families are worried about their conditions.
Some of those arrested have been taken to the detention centers in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan Province, while the whereabouts of a number of the detainees are still unknown.
The families of these people have been worried about their conditions for more than a month.
The families have made efforts to locate their loved ones by visiting various government offices, but they have not received any response so far.
Some of the detainees, including Omar and Yahya Shekl Zehi, were detained after being shot by the IRGS and security forces and were hospitalized.
One of the detainees in Iranshahr was identified as Yahya Shekl Zehi took refuge in a mosque while wounded from police fire. After discovering his location, Intelligence police arrested Yahya, despite his injured leg, and took him to an unknown location. Yahya’s family have checked several hospitals but have yet to find their son.
One month after the protests, the exact number of detainees is still unknown. The names of at least 16 citizens who have been arrested during the protests in Saravan are:
Mohammad Shahrestanzehi
Aziz Shahrestanzehi
Mohammad Darzadeh
Abdoljalil
Zakaria
Saeed
Omar
Yahya Shekl Zehi
Iraj Dehwari
Abdollatif Malekzadeh
Malek Kheiri
Abed Baluchzehi
Farzad Sepah
Protests in Saravan
Protests erupted in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan on February 22 when Baluch fuel carriers gathered near an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) base on the border in Saravan to protest the border closure. The Guards, who had dug large holes on the border to prevent fuel carriers from passing, gunned down the protesters, killing and wounding dozens of people.
The regime shut down or disrupted internet connections on February 24 night to quell the Sistan and Baluchestan protests. However, sporadic clashes and other forms of protest continued and spread to several other cities in the province including in the provincial capital, Zahedan.
The government dispatched reinforcements from other regions to quell the protests.
Local sources say the IRGC killed at least 40 of the Baluch fuel carriers were killed, and over 100 were injured and taken to hospitals.
