The police chief of the Iranian city of Zahedan, one of the epicenters of the wave of protests against the country’s authorities, has been dismissed after the official investigation acknowledged «deaths of innocent civilians» during the police crackdown on clashes that erupted in the town late last month.
Protests in the Sunni-majority city began in late September, fueled by mass marches in the rest of the country in memory of young Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who died in custody on September 16 after being detained by the Morality Police for improperly wearing a headscarf.
The marches took a special turn in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan province, where people came out to protest not only for Amini, but also against the rape of a 15-year-old Baluchi girl by a police chief.
The worst moment of the protests in Zahedan occurred on the so-called Bloody Friday, September 30, when according to NGOs a crackdown by security forces left more than 90 people dead in the city. On that day, some 150 people launched a protest against the city’s 16th police station, near a mosque, in memory of the teenage girl who was raped.
While the investigation, following the official Iranian line, blames «rioters and gunmen» for increasing tension and attempting to storm the police station, the assessment also concludes that «firing by police forces» in reaction to the march «led to the injury and death of several innocent citizens, bystanders who played no role in these disturbances.»
In this regard, the Sistan and Baluchestan Security Council has acknowledged «negligence on the part of some officials» and promised compensation for the families of the «innocent victims» as well as legal action against those involved.
Together with the chief of police of the city, the head of the police station threatened for his exaggerated response to the protests has also been dismissed, according to the communiqué of the Iranian authorities reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. In the same note, the local government puts the number of deaths during the riots in this city at 35, far from the toll of Iranian humanitarian activists.
