On Friday, November 4, 2022, after the Friday prayer, the security forces opened fire on the protesters in the city of Khash and created another bloody Friday in Iranian Balochistan.
This incident left at least 18 martyrs and dozens injured. Children are also seen among the martyrs.
Top Sunni clerics, elites, and social activists including some Shia elites have strongly condemned this tragedy.
According to received reports, after the Friday prayer in Khash, the protestors chanted slogans outside of Al-Khalil Mosque. Meanwhile, the security forces opened fire on the protesters; a number of people were injured in the continuous shootings.
In response to this reaction, people’s feelings were hurt and they angrily moved towards the building of city governor’s office and threw stones. In response to the protesters, the security forces started shooting, which at least 16 people, including children, were killed on the spot. The number of martyrs has been reported up to 19. The number of injured protesters is much higher.
Official sources claimed: some angry mobs wanted to occupy seize the governor’s office and the protesters were killed by “unknown suspicious persons. The governor of Khash did not clarify who shot at the people.
Religious figures and social activists, including Shaikh Abdol-Hamid the most influential Iranian Sunni leader and the president of Darululoom Zahedan, Shaikh Mohammad Hossein Gorgij from Golestan province, Kak Hassan Amini from Kurdistan, teachers of Ainul-Uloom Gosht\ Saravan criticized shooting at the protesters by Iranian security forces and denounced such treatments with the nation.
They said in their statements that in Baluchistan, demonstrators are killed and targeted by bullets ruthlessly, while in central cities like Tehran, people are not treated mercilessly. This shows the end of the oppression and discrimination of those in charge against the Baloch people.
While criticizing that the answer to slogans and stones are not bullets, Shaikh Abdol-Hamid questioned: “Why the people of this province get massacred when they protest?
Kak Hassan Amini, one of the Kurdish leaders said in a statement: “Some government elements want to create sectarian disputes in the country for their own interests. Iranians including Shia and Sunni citizens have been living side by side for centuries.”
“Sectarianism arose in Iran after the formation of the religious system. All should be careful,” he added.
Shaikh Abdol-Hakeem Sayyed Zadeh from Gosht\Saravan questioned: “Is it appropriate for an Islamic system and even for a human being to respond to stones with bullets? Is it written in the jurisprudence of the Imams to kill the ones who throw stone? Do Israelis open fires at stone throwers?”