Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered further investigations into deadly violence in the country’s southeast, as well as compensation for victims, an official posted to the region said. The unrest in Zahedan, the capital of the impoverished province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan, broke out on September 30, and authorities said six members of the security forces were among the dozens killed.
The casualties came amid nationwide unrest that followed the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, 22, after she was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women. A delegation from Khamenei visited the southeastern region over the weekend to express grief and promise a solution, official media reported.
“The Supreme Leader’s request is to act on the basis of facts, an investigation under the supervision of the Supreme National Security Council,” Mohammad-Javad Haj Ali Akbari, the delegation’s spokesman, said late Sunday at the country’s top security body. In late October, the Sistan-Baluchistan Security Council said it had concluded an investigation that found “negligence” on the part of officers and the deaths of “innocent” civilians during the unrest.
Following an investigation ordered by President Ebrahim Raisi, the council announced the dismissal of Zahedan’s police chief and the police station chief. During his visit, Akbari said Khamenei ordered compensation for those killed or injured. Some local figures said the protests in Zahedan were sparked by anger over the reported rape of a teenage girl by a police officer.
Activists from overseas accused the security forces of shooting the protesters. Zahedan is one of the few Sunni-majority cities in predominantly Shiite Iran. Akbari earlier said the delegation was here to “report on the measures he (Khameneim) decided to resolve these issues,” IRNA reported.
Akbari also referred to a “special plan” from Khamenei to benefit the people of the province, but IRNA did not provide any further details on such measures. The visit to Sistan-Baluchistan preceded the European Union’s decision on Monday to impose sanctions on 29 other Iranian officials, including the interior minister, for suppressing protests against Amini’s death.