Iranian authorities have appointed a new police commander for the restive eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, after his predecessor was sacked last month over the deaths of dozens of people during a brutal crackdown on protests.
Mohammad Qanbari’s appointment on November 9 comes amid widespread strikes in cities across Sistan and Baluchestan and the western province of Kurdistan marking the 40th day since Zahedan’s Back Friday.
On September 30 in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan province, security forces killed 92 people, including 12 children, according to IranWire sources. Four security forces were also killed that day.
The incident -- the deadliest in the nationwide unrest triggered by the September 16 death of a Kurdish woman, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, in the custody of Tehran’s morality police -- followed days of angry rallies over the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl by a police officer.
On November 9, videos from Sanandaj, Kurdistan province’s capital, show protesters blocking roads and burning tires amid heavy presence of security forces.
One video obtained by IranWire shows several special forces vehicles heading toward Saqqez, Amini’s hometown.
Meanwhile, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported that two alleged terrorists were executed in Sistan and Baluchistan over the killing of four border police officers.
The report said the pair were members of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), a Sunni militant group that is recognized as a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States and which has claimed deadly attacks against security forces in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Sistan and Baluchistan is one of poorest provinces in predominantly Shia Iran and home to a Sunni Baluch minority estimated to number up to 2 million people.
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