Among 8,000 Foreign Prisoners Most Are Afghans, Says Iranian Official

He mentioned that efforts are being made to repatriate these prisoners to their home countries, provided they consent.

IRNA news agency, reported on Wednesday that the Iranian Ministry of Justice is trying to return foreign prisoners to their respective countries through extradition treaties.

Iran’s deputy justice minister for human rights told IRNA, "Currently, the highest number of foreign prisoners in Iranian prisons are from Afghanistan, and our effort is to return all of them to their country. However, due to infrastructural weaknesses in Afghanistan, this has not been possible."

Jalalian said that he is trying to negotiate with the Taliban's prisoner transfer committee to transfer Afghan prisoners, but the transfer is conditional on the prisoner's consent.

He said, "Although housing foreign prisoners imposes financial, political, and security costs on the government, the transfer of prisoners depends on their consent, and if they do not consent, the transfer will not take place."

This Iranian official's announcement of the extradition of Afghan prisoners to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan comes amid previous reports of the arrest of former Afghan security forces and members of anti-Taliban fronts in Iran.

Previously, Iran had handed over Afghan prisoners to the Taliban on several occasions.

Over 3,500 Afghan Refugees Repatriated From Iran

Jun 12, 2024, 14:29 GMT+1

The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation reported that on Tuesday, 3,437 Afghan migrants returned from Iran to Afghanistan, both voluntarily and involuntarily.

According to the ministry, these migrants entered Afghanistan through the Silk Road in Nimruz province.

The Taliban stated that 640 of these returning migrants were referred to the International Organisation for Migration for assistance.

The group added that it has also provided cash assistance to 54 families.

The deportation of Afghan migrants from Iran has recently increased. The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees reports daily on the forced or voluntary return of hundreds of migrants from Iran and Pakistan.

European Centre Warns Of Consequences of Heroin Shortage In Europe

Jun 12, 2024, 10:57 GMT+1

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has warned that the European Union must prepare for the consequences of a future heroin shortage.

Following the Taliban's ban on poppy cultivation in 2022, the United Nations reported that opium production in Afghanistan has decreased by 95 percent.

According to the Euractiv website, Alexis Goosdeel, director of the EMCDDA, said that the analysis of satellite images shows that this ban is being implemented.

He added that Afghanistan's heroin reserves have not yet run out and are in route, so the reduction in the market may take some time.

However, Goosdeel said that there are signs of a shortage of heroin supply in some EU member states and the UK.

While presenting the centre’s latest annual report, he said, " The question is what will happen next? The risk is that those who are using heroin will switch to drugs that are cheaper, easily produced and much more dangerous than heroin. Some of them can be 700 times more potent than morphine."

The United States has seen a significant increase in opioid overdose deaths related to fentanyl derivatives, but Goosdeel says it is difficult to predict what substances people in the EU might turn to.

Heroin is the most commonly used illegal opioid in Europe and is responsible for a significant portion of health problems associated with illegal drug use.

Unlike the booming use of cocaine, heroin is used by older groups and has fewer new users.

Plan to Seal Eastern Borders & Expel Illegal Immigrants, Says Iranian Parliament Speaker

Jun 12, 2024, 10:12 GMT+1

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian Parliament Speaker and candidate for the presidential elections, stated in a television interview that addressing the issue of illegal immigrants, most of whom are Afghans, is part of his campaign agenda.

He said that if he wins the election, he will completely seal Iran's border with Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, during a live television programme, Ghalibaf said, "The eastern borders (with Afghanistan) will definitely be sealed with budget allocation throughout the plan."

Ghalibaf, outlining his election programme, emphasised that "unauthorised foreign nationals will certainly be expelled”.

Previously, Iran's Interior Minister announced that USD three billion have been allocated for the plan to seal the eastern border (with Afghanistan).

According to Iranian officials, nearly six million Afghan immigrants currently live in Iran, with a significant portion residing in the country without valid residency documents.

Ghalibaf is one of the first prominent candidates in Iran's presidential election to make Afghan immigrants a focus of his campaign.

Last week, he described Afghan immigrants as a security threat.

UN Special Rapporteur Urges Governments to File ICC Case Against Taliban

Jun 12, 2024, 09:30 GMT+1

Heather Barr, a Human Rights Watch official, stated that the UN Human Rights Rapporteur in his new report on Afghanistan has called for countries to criminalise gender apartheid.

Barr wrote that Richard Bennett, UN Human Rights Rapporteur for Afghanistan, has asked governments to file a complaint against the Taliban at the International Court of Justice (ICC) for violating women's rights.

Bennett will present his new report on the human rights situation to the UN Human Rights Council on June 21.

However, he has not yet released the report. On Tuesday, Barr published an article regarding the contents of this report.

She wrote that Bennett has strongly urged countries to hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against women and girls in Afghanistan.

According to her, "Bennett calls the Taliban’s system of discrimination a crime against humanity, saying it constituted in and of itself a widespread and systematic attack on the entire civilian population of Afghanistan."

In his report, the UN Special Rapporteur has supported the call by women's rights activists for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime under international law by UN member states.

Currently, organisations and human rights defenders are striving for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime in international law, similar to racial apartheid in South Africa. However, major world governments have not yet supported this demand.

According to Heather Barr, Bennett has also urged governments in his report to "support the International Criminal Court's investigations into Taliban crimes, including those related to the gender-based persecution of women”.

Additionally, countries should refrain from normalising or legitimising the Taliban until concrete and verified actions in the field of human rights, especially for women and girls, are taken.

The third Doha meeting, hosted by the United Nations and special representatives of countries for Afghanistan, is scheduled for June 30 – July 1.

Earlier, a group of international human rights organisations, in a letter to the participating countries of the Doha meeting, stated that "the world is dangerously close to accepting the legitimacy of the Taliban's rule”.

They urged countries not to grant concessions to the Taliban regarding women's rights.

Iran International Journalist Moved To Safe House In Sweden Following Security Threats

Jun 11, 2024, 16:02 GMT+1

Following threats against Iran International TV network staff, Mehran Abasian, a journalist for this network in Sweden, was placed under the protection of the Swedish security police and moved to a safe house due to security threats.

The Swedish police assessed the security threat as "serious and real”.

In explaining the threat, Abasian said, "Recently, a criminal group in Sweden has been tasked by the Islamic Republic with killing me and one of my colleagues."

This Iran International journalist had previously received numerous threatening messages on social media, especially during the coverage of Hamid Nouri's trial in Stockholm.

Last year, the Swedish Supreme Court rejected Nouri's appeal, and his life sentence for involvement in the execution of political prisoners in the 1980s in Iran was confirmed.

In the latest public threats against Iran International staff, Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of the High Council for Human Rights and deputy head of the Iranian judiciary, called Iran International "terroristic" on the X social media platform, threatening its staff.

Gharibabadi's remarks came a week after five UN special rapporteurs condemned the cross-border violence and "threats of death and intimidation against Iran International staff”.

In their statement, these experts expressed deep concern over the increase in threats and intimidation against the staff of the media outlet, citing the "knife attack and acts of violence" against Pouria Zeraati, a journalist of Iran International.

Zeraati, one of Iran International's journalists, was attacked by three assailants with a knife in recent months and was hospitalised for several days.

Following Gharibabadi's remarks, an Iran International spokesperson stated, "Iran International TV is an example of independent journalism that provides accurate and unbiased information."

He added that the media outlet prides itself on upholding the highest principles of journalism and ensures that its reports remain fair and unbiased.

In 2022, Iran International was forced to temporarily move its TV broadcast from London to Washington due to security threats.

After a few months' hiatus, Iran International resumed its broadcasts from its new studio in London.

During one of the attempts to "carry out a terrorist operation against Iran International," an Austrian Chechen national named Mohammad-Hussein Dovtaev was identified and arrested by the Metropolitan Police in 2023.

The Central Criminal Court of England sentenced Dovtaev to three years and six months in prison for "terrorist activity against Iran International."

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