Iran has continued the execution of Balochs against a backdrop of economic deprivation and press manipulation.  In response the BPP and others have appealed for international support.

Below is an appeal distributed by the Balochistan People’s Party:

The Iranian regime has executed 30 and dismembered 5 Baluch people in seven days in Iran.

On 27th December of 2007, while the people in the West were enjoying Christmas holidays, the Iranian security forces summoned 17 families to go and collect their hanged members. Seventeen young Baluch had been hanged that early morning. The government did not allow the publication of the hanging to be reflected in any media. This was not the first time that a large number of people were executed in one day. This has been the official policy of the Iranian regime to engage in a systematic oppression of Baluch people since its emergence 30 years ago.

On the first day of the New Year [2008] two Baluch men were executed in a prison in the Zahedan, provincial capital of Balochistan, the official news agency IRNA said. Also on the first day of the New Year, 13 Iranians were hanged according to Associated Press which was reflected in other media. The Baluch human rights activists claimed that more than half of them were Baluch.

On the second day of the New Year two Baluch men were hanged and two other were shot dead, according to Isna.

On the third day of the New Year, two Baluch teenagers were shot dead in Zahedan while they were carrying water. These young men had gone to buy water for a wedding ceremony. Zahedan which is the capital of Baluchistan is divided into two parts: Shia part and Sunni part. The Shia part of the city has various different utilities including water. The Sunni part of the city is deprived of major utilities and the Baluch Sunni people must go out and buy water from the market dispensed by water tankers. The Governor of Zahedan confirmed the clash between the Baluch and the security forces in Zahedan after the shooting. The news was also reflected in many local media.

The news of the executions and hangings of Baloch people do not get properly reflected in the National media of Iran as ordered by the government while the international community is unaware of the events the Iranian regime is freely continuing its policy of mass executions and hangings of Baloch people quietly in different cities of Iran. The Iranian news agencies usually give a few lines about the executions of traffickers and rebels what western media like to reflect with reference to the Iranian controlled media. The Iranian people know that the Iranian regime executes its political opponents after defining them as rebels, terrorists and drug traffickers.

Mohammad Reza Sarawani, deputy of Social Affairs of Baluchistan province announced that 76 percent of the Baluch people live under the poverty line, The official news agency of Shana reported on 31 December 07. The official average figure for people who are living under poverty line in Iran is 11 percent. A very simple comparison of the Baluch people who are living under poverty line and the rest of Iranian population clearly indicate a comprehensive discrimination policy against the people of Baluchistan. The Baluch people who are living in such conditions are also subjected to various ways of oppression and repression. This is clearly a crime against humanity to keep the Baluch people poor and backwards and whenever they raise the voice for demanding their legitimate and basic rights, they become the target of the most inhuman and oppressive policies.

We seek to draw the attention of international community, human rights organizations, United Nations, political activists and leaders, journalists and investigators and other people of the world to the plight of the Baluch people in Iran. We seek the help of all human beings to condemn the oppressive policies of Iranian regime in Baluchistan.

We would like to invite all human rights organizations to go inside Baluchistan and observe the plight of the Baluch people on the ground. We seek the attention of the journalists to conduct more research on Baluchistan and write about a people who are the subject of severe discrimination and oppression. We wish to draw the attention of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, United Nations Commissions for Human Rights and the European Parliament to prepare documentary reports about the political, social and economic conditions of Baluch people in Iran.

The Iranian regime will continue its mass executions and poverty creation policies in Baluchistan until international community puts sufficient pressure on the government to halt its policies of oppression, repression, execution, political exclusion, social deprivation.

Your efforts can make a great difference for the people of Baluchistan. You can stop the execution and hangings of the Baluch people in Iran. You can contribute to their well-being and prosperity.

Do what you can do to help the Baluch people who cannot help themselves at this moment in history.

Baluchistan Peoples Front

Balochistan Peoples Party

Baluchistan United Front, Federal Republicans

Baluchistan National Movement-Iran

Balochistan Mobarizeen Movement