To:

Mr. António Guterres

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees April 2007

Head quarters

Geneva, Switzerland

Copy:

- UNHCR, Branch Office, Islamabad, Pakistan

- UNHCR, sub-office, Quetta, Pakistan

The case of Iranian Baloch asylum seekers

Dear Sir

The rights of self-determination and non-ethnic discrimination have been recognized as basic human rights by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. Iran has formally signed UDHR and should follow it. However, the Iranian Islamic Republic is well known for its continuous violation of human rights including the right of freedom of speech, the right of freedom of belief, freedom of religion and the right of freedom of political activity. These violations have been clearly pointed out and condemned in the 2006 human rights report of the Amnesty International. The Baloch people in Iran are being discriminated on both national and religious bases. Above all, our people is deprived of right of self-identity which has also been adopted as a fundamental right of each individual by the UN.

Only in the past three months about 300 Iranian Baloches have been arrested and executed in the province of Sistan and Balochistan in Iran. The arrestees are deprived of any judicial right, legal assistance and just trials. The arrestees are accused of being “enemy of the God”. This accusation is a clear violation of freedom of the belief adopted by the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The executions are carried out by hanging in public places which is also violation of the human dignity adopted by UN’s charter. This act is done to terrify people of the province. Mr. Shariyari, a well-known government-affiliated MP of the province, has announced execution of further 700 detainees in coming months. Recently, 7 detainees among them Saeed Kambarzahi a 17 year old teen-ager, have been forced to appear on local government TV and confess their involvement in a fabricated accusation of “armed uprising” against the regime. The Amnesty International has condemned these violations of the human rights in Balochistan and has appealed to international society to condemn them as well. However, it is well known that torture and forced confession and appearance on TV is widely used by Iranian regime. A recent example is the recent forced appearance and confessions of the arrested British Naval staff on Iranian government TV.

In a situation of harsh dictatorship, suppression, mass arrests and executions the lives of many of political activists, members and supporters of opposition political parties will be endangered. In case of detention they will be subject to inhuman tortures, long sentences and even executions without trial. Many of them will be therefore forced to escape the country.

The UNHCR has played a vital role in saving lives of many Iranian Baloch refugees in 1980s through providing protection in the host countries. We believe that UNHCR will also be vital in the new situation by granting Baloch asylum seekers refugee status. By doing so, UNHCR will protect forced repatriation of asylum seekers to Iran through the “Repatriation Treaty” which exists between Iran and Pakistan. The Islamic Republic of Iran has enforced its intelligence and military activities inside the Pakistani borders. They are engaged in collecting information about Iranian opposition forces in Pakistan as wells planning military operations in Pakistan as they have done in the 1980’s. In the 1980’ the terrorists of the regime assassinated several opposition leaders and political activists in Karachi and Quetta.

Our appeal is directed to the UNHCR, especially in Pakistan, to provide protection to the Iranian Baloches who are seeking asylum at the UNHCR offices. We would like to request UNHCR representatives to show flexibility in considering refugee applications since the reasons behind the applications could be many such as political, religious, social etc.

Sincerely Yours

Balochistan National Movement (Raji Zrombesh)-Iran