HERAT -- Iran's security forces have elevated pressure on Afghan refugees residing in Iran, recent deportees and observers report.
The deportation of Afghan refugees from Iran has increased by 25% in the past month, with 2,000 deported refugees entering Afghanistan from Iran daily through the Islam Qala crossing, up from 1,500, according to reports from Herat.
While normally most of the deportees are unmarried men, now observers are seeing a spike in the number of children and women being deported, with some having noticeable signs of torture on their bodies upon reentry to Afghanistan.
Torture and extortion
Afghans recently expelled from Iran recount stories of the continued killing, torture and extortion of Afghan refugees by Iranian security forces.
![Afghan refugees deported from Iran are seen October 18 in Islam Qala, Herat province. [Omar/Salaam Times]](/cnmi_st/images/2022/10/26/38174-m_1-739_416.webp)
Afghan refugees deported from Iran are seen October 18 in Islam Qala, Herat province. [Omar/Salaam Times]
Iranian security forces are currently overwhelmed, said Ahmad Mohammadi, 22, a resident of Jawzjan province, on October 18 as he entered Afghanistan via Islam Qala. "They arrest Afghan refugees in their workplaces or homes and imprison them."
"Police arrested me in an orchard where I was working in southern Tehran," he said, adding, "The Iranian forces did not allow me to speak and defend myself."
Abdul Waris Khalid, 25, a resident of Faryab province, said Iranian police arrested him on his way home from work and imprisoned him for five days before abruptly deporting him.
"Police tortured and beat me frequently in prison," he said on Monday (October 24) at the United Nations (UN) refugee camp in Herat city. "They threatened me to confess ... But I told them that I was just a daily labourer."
Iran's beleaguered security forces are taking "out their frustration and anger on Afghans. Iranian police discriminatorily arrest and deport Afghan refugees wherever they spot them," he said.
Khalid said Afghan refugees cannot leave their homes and go about their daily lives and work because of the threat from Iranian police.
The life of Afghans in Iran has become very miserable due to the pressure of Iran's security forces, said Atiqullah Khairkhah, 34, a resident of Kabul who spoke from the UN refugee camp in Herat on October 24.
"Iranian police continue to raid Afghan refugee homes and workplaces at night and arrest them while they are asleep or at work," he said. "They do not even allow us to take our clothes. They send us to prison in our pyjamas or work clothes."
He said Iranian security forces have also ordered employers not to employ Afghans.
No one spared
Mohammad Nasser Nazari, 29, a resident of Baghlan province, who has a broken leg and needs a cane to walk, said he was involved in a car crash in Bandar Abbas last month that was caused by Iranian police.
"We were eight Afghans in the car. Police shot the tire, and our car overturned. Four of my fellow passengers died on the spot, and four of us were injured, including myself," he said from the UN refugee camp in Herat city.
"I was under treatment in a hospital in Bandar Abbas for almost a month," he said. "I paid all the expenses out of pocket. My family had to send 50 million tomans [$1,562] from Afghanistan, and only then Iranian doctors agreed to treat me."
Nazari said he does not know the condition of the other three Afghans injured in the shootout, adding that their condition was very serious at the time.
Abdul Ghafoor Ranjbar, 53, a resident of Faryab province, said he had gone to Iran a month ago but was arrested at this workplace and severely tortured by Iranian police.
"Iranian forces arrested us at 7pm and made us sleep on the stone floor until 6am the next day," he recalled. "There were 41 of us. An Iranian soldier kicked us in the back as he was counting us. He was calling us 'dirt'."
Iranian soldiers also extort money from all Afghan refugees under various pretexts, said Ranjbar.
"Iranian security forces do whatever cruelty they can to Afghan refugees," he said. "They do not spare anyone, not even women or children."
Islam is a holy religion, but the Iranian Akhunds and the Afghan Mullahs have used it for their interests and are using it for their benefit. How long will these series continue? Islam is a religion of brotherhood and friendship; there is no border; however, these two groups not only separated Muslims but made them enemies of each other. Now that the religious Akhunds and the Afghans have created any disturbance in Iran, the consequences of our Mullahs' activities have been forced this way. Why would the common people have been in so much trouble if they were humans? I watched a video where Iranian Akhunds passing by are being beaten by Iranian citizens, and people are hitting them and throwing away their turbans, which are the religious dress of Muslims. Mullahs are being ridiculed in Afghanistan too, and the reason for this is Mullah's absurd myths. They do something that even Islam has not given preference to, but the mullahs are forcing people either do it or give up.
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Death to Iran's filthy security forces. Iran and the Iranians have been oppressing Afghan immigrants in that country for a long time. In the meantime, Iran's Revolutionary Guards, or the evil forces of Iran, interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs on the one hand and are entangled in security events. On the other hand, they send Afghan migrants, exceptionally hardworking young Hazara Afghans, to Syria and Iraq, as mamy of them have been killed in the last few years. Afghanistan has been laid down between two wild beasts (Iran and Pakistan), one of which destroys it from one side and the other from another.
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The rest of the report: "After that, they made everyone sit together and ordered them to laugh. We were badly beaten and pained. We couldn't laugh, but they forced us to laugh, and then they took pictures of us together," he said. "A few minutes after that, they made us collect cigarette filters from the surrounding places, and when it was eight o'clock in the morning, they drove us back to the border of Iran." Confirming Khogyani's words, a refugee named Jamal Laghmani said, "when we were going to Iran, they asked us to move by chest and forced us to sing," Laghmani said while talking to Taand. Jamal said, "The Turks sang a song and asked us to repeat it, but because we cannot pronounce the Turkish language correctly, they opened fire at us." "Among our 40-member group was a member of the former National Army. He told them that he was a member of the Afghan National Army. They forced him to lie on the ground and took the knife to cut his neck, but as he recited the words of Allah, they left him alive. It is said that Turkey signed an agreement with the European Union three years ago in exchange for several thousand million dollars in the matter of stopping the flow of refugees and is continuing this process. Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran, who call themselves the leaders of Muslims, are the countries that keep the fire of war in Afghanistan going on through their mercenary militias, and each of them tries to make their proxy groups keep their interests in Afghanistan.
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To learn more about the Iranian and Turkish soldiers' treatment of Afghans, I will leave it to you in this report from the famous Pashto website Taand. I hope that Salaam Times will convey this voice to responsible international organizations. The first part of the report: Taand (Wednesday, 20th of Mizan): Some Afghan refugees who wanted to go to Europe through Turkey say that the Turkish soldiers arrested them after entering the Turkish territory. The refugees said it was around 4:00 AM when they caught them and beat them until 8:00 AM. Speaking with Taand, a refugee named A. Khogyani said, "they did to us any cruelties in the world. First, those who caught us took off our clothes and poured cold water on us. After pouring water, they started beating us, hitting us with pipes, sticks, then they beat us for a while," Khogyani said. "He said, "In the third stage, two Turks lifted a refugee on their shoulders and then threw him on the ground, causing many people to be seriously injured. He said, "In the next torture stage, he told us to close our eyes, and then they took our pictures. The rest of the report is in another comment...
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It is a proverb that says I can't force you, but I will kill your father. The Iranian government has been facing a headache for their people, but they are chasing the poor and helpless Afghans. I wish Afghans had a leader; why would they be like this? This has been the situation of Afghans ever since the government came to power in Afghanistan in the name of the Islamic Emirate. Hunger, insecurity, and many other problems in the homeland have forced Afghans to leave their homeland, but on the way to Europe, two Muslim countries call themselves sympathizers of Afghans (Turkey and Iran);. At the same time, they catch Afghans, including children and women, beat them, take money from them, push them indecently and return them to their homeland where there is no guarantee of life. The international community is also silent about the Afghans. No one listens or raises his voice on these difficult days. The ruling people of Afghanistan are shouting in front of the media that there is peace, brotherhood, this and that, but this is all a lie. There is nothing here in the homeland. Recently, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said that the current retreat of Afghan women and girls' rights might be unprecedented in this country's history. After reporting on the human rights situation in Afghanistan at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, he told a press conference that Afghans, especially women and girls, feel as if the world has forgotten th
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The principle is that all humanity is worthy of respect. Let alone humans; animals are also worthy of compassion. Afghanistan's neighbors, especially Iran and Pakistan, do not believe in humanity. This is not the first time Iran has put pressure on Afghans in its own country, but it has done this before. It is at a time when Afghanistan's neighbors, especially Iran and Pakistan, receive millions of dollars every year from the international community through UNHCR and other charities because of these Afghans. I remember that in Pakistan, the Pakistani police used to misbehave with Afghans, but they also took money from the international community for these Afghans. The latest political situation in Iran is their civil strife. I am sure that the Afghans in Iran are not involved in any destruction; they are just looking for excuses to take money from the international community. Afghans are impoverished people. Whether they go to Iran or Pakistan, they go only to earn a living and a meal for their families, and that's it.
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The Iranian security forces are treating Afghans very cruelly and mercilessly. We condemn the crimes committed by the soldiers of the evil regime of Iran. But the question is, who has treated Afghans well? Last week, Turkish forces arrested 40 Afghans, stripped them of their clothes, poured water on them, and then beat them severely. Three days after that incident, another report was published that about 100 people were stripped of their clothes and thrown naked into the sea. The behavior of Pakistani police is like that of dogs. I don't mean dogs that love humans, but their behavior is like wild dogs that bite humans. Or we can say that they behave like evil pigs. According to earlier documents, Russian soldiers treated Afghans like wild animals. American soldiers bombed entire villages of Afghans. Bagram, Kandahar, and Jalalabad prisons were filled with innocent people, and they tortured them every day. As Britons say, they were doing extra-judicial acts. Human beings have been created arrogant. Whether he is a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, a Hindu, a Sikh, a Buddhist, or a Chinese... Every human being deviates from humanity's framework, beats, tortures, scares and kills other human beings. It becomes like a game for him. May Allah have mercy on all His creatures, especially the people of the whole world. May God guide mankind to the right path. Amen
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