Iranian Police Arrest 150 Afghans in Hormozgan Province

According to Iranian media outlets, 150 Afghan citizens have been arrested during the police raid.

Ali Akbar Javidan, the police chief of Hormozgan province told the Fars News Agency, close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, "In this operation, 550 fuel tanks with an amount of 300,000 litres were discovered, 80 motor pumps for fuel collection, five vehicles carrying fuel, five stolen and unauthorised motorcycles were discovered, 50 kilometers of fuel pipelines from tanks to the coast were destroyed, and 150 unauthorised foreigners were arrested."

Iranian authorities have not revealed the identity of the arrested individuals yet.

The campaign of Baloch activists also reported that the military forces, in addition to destroying and setting fire to fuel tanks, destroyed several houses in the attack on Kolahi Minab village in Hormozgan province.

A well-informed source told the Baloch activists campaign that these forces raided this village along with a special military unit and they didn’t allow movement of residents for hours.

According to this report, the lack of work and income has caused the residents of this village and neighbouring villages to be engaged in fuel delivery. Since the authorities of the Iranian government consider fuel delivery as smuggling, people engaged in fuel delivery are subjected to severe repression, and every year hundreds of them are killed and wounded by the Iranian military forces.

Radio Station Stops Its Broadcast in Balkh, Media Support Group Confirms Development

Jul 13, 2023, 10:21 GMT+1

Nai, Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan, in a statement, announced that the local radio station, Nehad, has stopped its broadcast operations in northern Afghanistan.

The station is based in Balkh province and has stopped its broadcast due to economic problems.

Nai emphasised that after the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, almost half of Afghan media outlets have collapsed.

The broadcast operation of the radio station had also stopped last year due to a fire incident. According to the owners of the radio, the media group had been established 16 years ago in the Balkh province.

Nai stressed that mass media has been one of the major achievements of the past two decades in Afghanistan and said that the media ecosystem is in a decline.

Nai added that more than 65 percent of journalists and media workers have lost their jobs in the last two years.

Islamic Republic of Iran Hands Over 18000 Afghans To Taliban

Jul 13, 2023, 09:19 GMT+1

Majid Shoja, Khorasan Razavi Border Guard Commander, announced that 17,926 Afghan refugees have been deported by the Taibad Border Regiment to Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Shoja told Iran’s state news agency that the border guards handed over these "illegal" immigrants to the Taliban over the past 10 days.

After the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, thousands of Afghan citizens have fled to neighbouring countries, including Iran. However, the Islamic Republic has deported thousands of these Afghans back to Afghanistan.

Shoja said that decisive action will be taken against immigrants who enter Iran illegally.

Khorasan Razavi province of Iran has about 302 kilometers of joint border with Afghanistan.

50% of Zahedan Makki Mosque Students, Teachers Are Foreigners & Afghans

Jul 12, 2023, 16:31 GMT+1

Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that more than 50 percent of seminary students and some of the teachers of Zahedan Makki Mosque are foreigners and Afghans.

This news agency wrote that over the past few months, 132 of these seminary students have been deported.

In May, the Taliban’s foreign ministry announced that 23 Afghan Sunni seminary students had been released from Zahedan prison and returned to Nimroz province of Afghanistan.

Tasnim stressed that these individuals have been “identified and within the framework of the regulations, after preliminary detention, had been deported and handed over to the authorities of their country”.

This news agency published a confession video of some of these seminary students and officials of the mosque. It is still unclear under what conditions their confessions were made.

After the death of university student, Mahsa Amini, by the Iranian police, Sistan and Baluchistan province turned into the center of protests against the Iranian government.

The Iranian regime considers some of the religious movements belonging to the Sunnis of Zahedan, who support Mawlawi Abdul Hamid, the Sunni preacher of Zahedan, to be involved in these protests.

Mawlawi Abdul Hamid has continuously criticised the Iranian government in his Friday prayer sermons in recent months.

According to reports, the Iranian government has increased pressure on Mawlawi Abdul Hamid and Makki Mosque officials to restrain the protests.

In the video published by Fars news agency, one of the Makki madrassa officials said that this madrassa has nearly a thousand seminary students and half of them are Afghans.

Khaf-Herat Rail Line Raises Iran’s Export to China & Central Asia, Says Iranian Official

Jul 12, 2023, 12:04 GMT+1

Yaqoob Ali Nazari, governor of Iran's Khorasan Razavi, during the inauguration ceremony of the Khaf-Herat railway line, said that the annual capacity of this railway line is to carry six million tonnes of cargo between Afghanistan and Iran.

According to Nazari, Iran will use this railway line to increase exports and trade with China and Central Asian countries.

He stressed that the Iranian government plans to launch a passenger train on the Khaf-Herat railway route too.

Nazari said that this line connects Afghanistan to the southern ports of Iran and accelerates the transit between Afghanistan and open waters through Iran.

He added that Afghanistan will have access to Turkey and Western countries through the development of this railway.

Nazari added that Iran expects an increase in its exports to Afghanistan after the inauguration of the railway line.

This railway line was opened on Tuesday morning, in the presence of officials of the Islamic Republic and the Taliban.

The Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid conveyed a message of "brotherhood" to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the opening ceremony of this railway line and said, "We are brothers to you, brothers cooperate more, they have more rights.”

This Taliban official also expressed hope to expand cooperation with the Islamic Republic.

Taliban Flogs Four People on Charges of Adultery in Kabul

Jul 12, 2023, 10:42 GMT+1

The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that the group has flogged four people, including a woman, on charges of "debauchery” in the Paghman district of Kabul province.

According to the Taliban statement, these people were detained in the Qargha area of Kabul city. The Taliban have sentenced them to three months in prison.

According to the Taliban’s supreme court, these people had been flogged in the presence of the group’s officials and the public.

Shortly after taking over Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban started rolling out corporal punishment for Afghan citizens.

Human rights groups have expressed concerns that under the Taliban reign, those detained have no access to due processes.

These groups have condemned the corporal punishment of Afghan citizens.

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