Mahmoud Ghodrati, Director General of the Security and Law Enforcement Office in Iran’s Semnan province, has announced the deportation of 14,000 Afghan migrants since the beginning of the current Solar Hijri year.
Speaking on Sunday, Ghodrati stated that the Islamic Republic’s policy is to arrest and expel Afghan migrants who lack valid residency documents. He described the presence of Afghan migrants in Iran as a “problem,” adding, “A 40-year-old problem cannot be solved overnight. The issue of undocumented foreign nationals in the province must be addressed gradually, and this process is currently underway.”
He also confirmed that a number of Afghan migrants in Semnan have been detained and transferred to a deportation camp.
The crackdown on Afghan migrants in Semnan has intensified following allegations that a “foreign national” was involved in the murder of an Iranian youth.
On Monday, 17 February, the Chief Justice of Semnan announced the arrest of individuals responsible for the killing of a 28-year-old man in Mehdishahr County. The provincial police commander stated that one of the suspects is a foreign national and that the motive for the crime was a personal dispute.
Local authorities in Semnan have not disclosed the identity of the foreign national involved. However, some Iranian social media users have linked the incident to Afghan migrants and called for their expulsion.
Although the Islamic Republic has significantly increased the arrest and deportation of Afghan migrants in recent months, experts warn that attributing crimes to migrants without evidence risks fuelling negative public sentiment against Afghan refugees in Iran.
