On May 1, 2020, a group of

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

refugees tried to enter

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

drown Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ...

ed in the Hari River on the border between Iran and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Reuters and other new agencies reported, quoting Afghan lawmakers, that Iran's

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Federal Police (Germany), Germany, Guardia di Finanza, Italy or State Border Gua ...

s killed the migrants by forcing them into the river at gunpoint.

Incident

50 to 70

refugees tried to enter Iran by crossing the Hari River, which borders

Herat Province Herat (Persian: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city and ...

with Iran, on May 1, 2020. These Afghans, according to some Afghan officials and the survivors, were arrested by Iranian border guards and after being beaten and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

d they were thrown into the Hari River. The Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the incident and that initial assessments indicated that at least 70 Afghans trying to enter Iran from the border province of Herat had been beaten and thrown into the Hari River.

Victims

By May 7, 2020, the bodies of 17 drowned immigrants had been found. According to Abdul Ghani Nouri, the governor of Gulan in Herat Province, there are signs of torture on the bodies.

Survivors

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

has quoted Noor Mohammad, one of the survivors of the incident, that “After being tortured, the Iranian soldiers threw all of us in the Hari River,” One survivor told reporters the guards hit him with a pipe and pushed him into the river. Another said they had beaten him before throwing him into the river.

Statements by Iranian officials denying the charges

Due to the slope of the Harirod River, Iranian officials have denied the allegations, as the bodies must have been found in Iranian soil, but according to the Afghan workers comments, the bodies were found on Afghan soil, so it would not be acceptable for Iranian border guards to throw the Afghans into Hari. Afghan officials blamed that the Iranian guards had entered well into the Afghan territory. The forensic doctor of

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...

city declared that there is no evidence of torture on the bodies. Also, due to the muddy nature of the Helmand River, no traces of mud have been seen on the bodies

Reactions

Former President of Afghanistan, President

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in L ...

of Afghanistan had ordered an investigation into the incident. Ghani formed a ten-member team to check the recovered bodies. Signs of torture on some of the bodies have been observed. On 11 May, hundreds of Afghans gathered in front of the Iranian

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...

in Herat to show their anger towards the death of their fellow citizens who were allegedly drowned by Iranian border guards. The crowd chanted, “Death to Rouhani, Death to Khamenei,”

References