Identity Of 14 Baluch Citizens Detained In Iran’s Sistan Province Revealed

The identities of at least 14 Baluch citizens arrested by the Iranian security forces, including four children, have been revealed.

The arrests happened after anti-regime protests in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on June 23, including four young teens, Amir Alizahi, 13, Adnan Alizahi, 14, Iraj Hashemzahi 14, and Esfandiar Hashemzahi, 15.

Amir and Adnan Alizahi, cousins, were reportedly released on Friday evening after 10 hours of detention and torture by the security forces in the province which has become the heartland of anti-regime activity.

Haalvsh website, which covers the events in Sistan-Baluchestan province, reported that in the city of Rask alone, plainclothes agents forced four citizens, including two teenagers, into a car and abducted them.

"At least 50 people from a village, who had attended the Friday prayer, were arrested by the repressive forces on Friday," Haalvsh wrote of the unrest in Rask.

So far, no information has been published about the exact number of those arrested in different cities of the flashpoint province on Friday.

This Friday was the 38th consecutive week that people of the province held demonstrations against the government following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September, but the rallies were significantly larger following calls for protests by Sunni clerics and activist groups as the regime seems to have intensified its campaign against their religious leader Mowlavi Abdolhamid.

The prominent religious leader has been relentless in his condemnation of authorities in his weekly Friday sermons since September when nationwide protests erupted in the country.