Following the murder of Iranian youth in Yazd, the situation has become difficult for Afghan migrants in the city. Iranian authorities have not disclosed the identity of the assailant. Still, some media outlets in the country claim that the suspect was an Afghan citizen, although they have not provided further details. After this incident, residents of Yazd, in an attack on the homes of Afghan migrants, set fire to some residential houses. Some Afghan refugees in Iran say that four days after this incident, they still cannot leave their homes. According to the refugees, their situation in this city is critical, and the possibility of another attack looms at any moment.
Following the street clash in the Meybod area of Yazd, resulting in the death of a young man, local media outlets have identified the deceased as “Amirreza Aqaei,” stating that he was killed in a street confrontation, succumbing to stab wounds. Another individual was also injured in this incident and is currently hospitalized.
A day after this event, during which a senior Iranian security official in Yazd claimed, “The killer of a 17-year-old Iranian is a foreign national,” angry citizens attacked the homes of Afghan migrants in the city, setting fire to several residences. However, the Iranian official did not disclose the identity of this foreign individual.
In images circulating on social media, a group of people can be seen attacking the migrant settlement. Authorities in the country have issued directives imposing extensive restrictions against migrants.
However, some Afghan migrants in Yazd, Iran, report an increase in “migrant hostility” following the murder of the Iranian youth in the city. They state that while it is not precisely clear whether the 17-year-old Iranian was killed by Afghan migrants or not, residents of Yazd are harassing and troubling migrants.
Ramazan, one of the Afghan migrants who has been living in Yazd for about two years, tells the Hasht-e Subh Daily: “In the past four days, our conditions have become very tight. We can’t leave our homes, and we are constantly fearful that an attack on our homes might happen at any moment. I haven’t been to work in four days, and if I go, the employer may fire me.”
Naseer Ahmad, another Afghan migrant in Yazd, Iran, asserts that the Iranian police often wrongly attribute most criminal incidents to migrants, a claim that deviates from reality. He states, “We have been living in Iran for over 10 years, but any wrongdoing in this country, the government blames it on migrants, which is not true. Migrants can’t easily move around, let alone carry knives!” Naseer Ahmad adds, “Even armed robberies and sexual assaults are falsely linked to migrants. It’s all baseless accusations. In some cases, the police detain a few young migrant men and force them to confess, and then broadcast coerced confession videos.”
Afghan migrants in Iran are calling for an end to “migrant hostility.” Shah Edriss, who has been living in Tehran for about a year, tells the Hasht-e Subh Daily, “We demand the cessation of such biased policies. At the very least, the people of Iran should understand that a migrant who has come to this country to find a piece of bread cannot commit murder.” He adds, “Why don’t you raise your voice against the daily oppression faced by migrants? We are the ones doing the hardest jobs in this country.”
After a senior Iranian security official in Yazd claimed that the killer of a 17-year-old Iranian was a foreign national, enraged citizens attacked the homes of Afghan migrants in this city.
Following street protests against the killing of the young man in a “mass confrontation” in Meybod county, the Yazd Province police commander has announced the arrest of the murderer.
According to Fars News Agency’s report, the Yazd police commander, on Friday evening, December 1, announced the detention of the “perpetrators of the confrontation, conflict, and the murder of a young man from Meybod in Meybod county in less than 15 hours,” but did not specify the nationality of these individuals. The cause of the conflict and its details are still unclear.
Recently, with the increasing population of Afghan migrants in Iran, similar incidents have been reported in various cities where Iranian citizens have attacked Afghan migrants, calling for their expulsion.
On the other hand, Hamza Suleimani, the Director-General of Foreign Nationals and Foreign Immigrants Affairs in Kermanshah, Iran, has stated that the presence, settlement, and employment of Afghan nationals in 16 provinces of Iran, including Kermanshah, are prohibited. This Iranian official, on Saturday, December 2, told the ISNA news agency that the presence of Afghan nationals in these provinces has been prohibited by a “directive” from the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. The official did not specify in which other provinces, aside from Kermanshah, the presence of Afghan nationals is prohibited.
However, the Shargh Iran newspaper has reported in a news piece that the presence of Afghan nationals is currently completely prohibited in the provinces of “East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Lorestan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Mazandaran, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan, and Hamedan.”
Extensive challenges have consistently accompanied the presence of Afghan migrants and refugees in Iran. Authorities in the country have repeatedly restricted these migrants and refugees from certain locations. Before this, the prohibition of the presence of Afghan migrants and refugees in some parks and shops in Iran, along with the installation of signs to that effect, had become newsworthy and elicited reactions.
Pressures on Afghan migrants and refugees in Iran have escalated in recent months, with authorities in the country repeatedly stating their intention to expel “unauthorized individuals.”
