UNPO's General Secretary Marino Busdachin speaks out in the following statement against new arrests of up to sixty Baloch people in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Below is a copy of UNPO's official Statement:
In the past week reports indicate that the Iranian regime has arrested up to sixty Baloch people in the latest restrictions to be placed on the rights of the Baloch people to expression, free speech, and peaceful demonstration in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following the arrest of Mr. Abdula Fatah on 14 May 2012, people gathered in front of the Sarbaz District governor’s office in the Sistan and Balochistan Provinces of south east Iran, demanding for his release. Upon not receiving any response, the group of people went and protested in front of the police station. Police responded violently to the protest with the result that at least one person is believed to have died.
The concern of the international community must now be focused on the health and access to legal representation of the protesters understood to have been arrested by the Iranian authorities. Past protests against Tehran and its policies have shown that once arrested, detainees run a high risk of being subjected to torture and the death penalty if convicted of crimes that are often either fabricated or against which the accused have little legal support with which to defend themselves. http://www.unpo.org/article/14294
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