28.05.2008 - Source: Amnesty International

Jondallah, a Baluchi armed group, carries out attacks on Iranian officials, including bombing a bus in February 2007 ("Annual Report 2008") [ID 23411]

"Jondallah, a Baluchi armed group, carried out attacks on Iranian officials, including bombing a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards in February. It also took hostages, at least one of whom was killed.

Nasrollah Shanbeh-zehi was arrested following the bus bombing. Five days later he was publicly executed following a summary trial."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Executions of ethnic Baluchis and unfair trials for attacks against government officials ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22645]

"Baluchi groups in the southeastern province of Sistan va Baluchestan alleged numerous executions during the year after reportedly unfair trials for attacks against government officials. A September Amnesty International (AI) report estimated that authorities executed at least 50 Baluchis since the beginning of the year, almost all following the February 14 bombing in Zahedan of a bus carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which killed 11 IRGC members.

On February 15, the militant opposition group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack. Many of those executed following the bombing made televised "confessions" of responsibility, which Baluchi groups alleged were extracted under torture. According to AI, Baluchi groups alleged that authorities sought to dispel the appearance of ethnic targeting by taking Baluchis to other provinces to execute them after human rights groups drew attention to the rise in executions of Baluchis.

On June 13, according to AI, Vahid Mir Baluchzahi was found dead in Zahedan, Sistan va Baluchestan province, after going missing on February 14, the same day the bus bombing killed 11 IRGC members in the same province. At year's end the government had not initiated an investigation."

Document(s): Open document

31.01.2008 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Discrimination of Baluchis in Iran (2007) ("World Report 2008") [ID 22518]

"After a February 2007 bombing of a bus carrying members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, the government arrested dozens of members of the Baluchi minority. Less than a week after the bombings, the government publicly hanged Nasrollah Shanbezehi after televising his “confession” and following a rushed trial in which he had no access to a lawyer.

In a March interview, Iranian parliament member Hossein Ali Shahryari stated that 700 people awaited execution in Sistan and Baluchistan. In May authorities hanged seven in connection with the bombings; one of them was Said Qanbar Zahi, mentioned above."

Document(s): Open document

29.10.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

According to human rights groups, the Baluchi minority in southwestern Pakistan and southeastern Iran is marginalised and discriminated against by the state; fightings between Baluchi nationalists and Pakistani troops have so far displaced 84,000 people and killed hundreds of militants and civilians ("The Baluchi Minority's Forgotten Conflict") [ID 21814]

Document(s): Open document

04.03.2007 - Source: Minority Rights Group International

Annual report on current situation of Baluchis ("State of the World's Minorities 2007") [ID 22400]

"The mostly Sunni Baluchi ethnic minority comprises around 2 per cent of the Iranian population, and lives in the impoverished Baluchistan region that straddles the Pakistani border.

As Tehran opened a new military base in the area, Baluchi militants attacked a government motorcade in March 2006, killing over 20 people and taking others hostage."

Document(s): Open document

28.02.2005 - Source: US Department of State

Discrimination of ethnic minorities ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2004") [#29525],  [ID 8793]

"[...]In general, the Government did not discriminate on the basis of race, disability, language, or social status; however, it discriminated on the basis of religion, sex, and ethnicity. The poorest areas of the country are those inhabited by ethnic minorities, such as by the Baluchis in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, and by Arabs in the southwest. Much of the damage suffered by Khuzistan Province during the 8-year Iran-Iraq war has not been repaired; consequently, the quality of life of the largely Arab local population was degraded. Kurds, Azeris, and Ahvazi Arabs were not allowed to study their languages. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

13.01.2005 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Minorities ("World report 2005") [#28233],  [ID 8794]

"[...]Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities remain subject to discrimination and, in some cases, persecution. The Baha’i community continues to be denied permission to worship or engage in communal affairs in a public manner. In a rare public protest, eighteen Sunni parliamentarians wrote to the authorities in July 2003 to criticize the treatment of the Sunni Muslim community and the refusal to allow construction of a mosque in Tehran that would serve that community. The Baluchi minority, who are mostly Sunni and live in the border province of Sistan and Baluchistan, continue to suffer from lack of representation in local government and have experienced a heavy military presence in the region. In December 2003, tensions between the local population and the Revolutionary Guards led to large demonstrations in Saravan, in Baluchistan province. In the ensuing clashes between demonstrators and the police at least five people were killed.[...]"

Document(s): Open document

10.2002 - Source: UK Home Office

UK Home Office: Iranian Baluch are not targeted as a group and not persecuted unless they are involved in some general opposition-related activities ("Country Assessment - October 2002") [#9556],  [ID 8795]

"5.114. The Baluchis are Sunni Muslims, numbering between one and two million. Iranian Baluch are not targeted as a group and not persecuted unless they are involved in some general opposition-related activities. They are mainly concentrated in Baluchistan province at the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are large areas in these provinces that are not under the control of the Iranian authorities. In addition, the jails are overcrowded with Afghans and Baluchis who have been lured into the lucrative drug trade.

5.115. The situation of the Baluchis since 1989 seems to have remained unchanged, both economically and politically. They still inhabit some of the poorest regions in Iran and still are denied autonomy by the Iranian government."

Document(s): Open document

09.2002 - Source:

University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Background Information ("00.09.2002 - University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Background Information") [ID 8796]

"Perhaps better known for their fine rugs than ethnopolitical mobilization, the Baluchis are a tribal people that inhabit the isolated Makran highlands on the southeastern tip of Iran and form the majority of the province of Sistan-Baluchistan (also Kerman and Khorastan), which sits along Iran's border with Pakistan (GROUPCON3; REGIONAL = 1). Religiously, the Baluchi are Sunni Muslims (CULDIFX4 = 2), and speak an Indo-Iranian language that is distantly related to Persian, but more closely related to Pashtu (CULDIFX2 = 2). The religious differences have been a source of tension in the past, especially in the ethnically mixed provincial capital of Zahedan, and have been exacerbated since the establishment of the Republic in 1979. However, because of Sistan-Baluchistan’s relative isolation, the central government has had difficulty controlling the local population, and has not invested any significant funds in local development projects. As a result, the Baluchis are one of the poorest and least educated peoples in Iran (ECDIFXX = 4).
Attempts by the Iranian government (both under the Pahlavis and the current government) to integrate the Baluchis into the Iranian economy were intended to bring the region under the government's control and not necessarily improve the lot of the Baluchis. Perhaps due to this poverty and the remoteness of the region, the production and smuggling of opium has become a major industry in the region. This has not surprisingly resulted in clashes between Baluchi smugglers and the government, but this seems to be more due to the "business" of the smugglers rather than their ethnicity.
The Baluchis, mostly due to the remoteness of their living in a mountainous and desert region, were effectively autonomous for most of their history. Even today, their isolation limits the amount of government control of their region. Their isolation was first disturbed by the British in the second half of the 19th century. However, until Reza Shah came to power in 1921, they remained mostly autonomous. As part of his campaign to centralize Iran's government and economy, Reza Shah launched a series of pacification campaigns against the Baluchi and by 1935, none of the Baluchi tribal chiefs were able to oppose him.
Baluchis’ isolation in a high traffic zone for international opium production has led to occasional banditry and sporadic violence in the region (REB99/00=1), but no reported instances of political protest (PROT99/00 = 0). Conversely, no documented reports of overt governmental repression are available for 1999 or 2000 (REP00 = 0). It is safe to assume that while the central government no doubt has its eyes on Baluchistan’s Sunni Muslim majority, their relative disadvantage and isolation is due more in part to neglect and no remedial policies, rather than explicit exclusionary policies (POLDIS00 = 3)."

Document(s): 00.09.2002 - University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Background Information

09.2002 - Source:

University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Risk Assessment ("00.09.2002 - University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Risk Assessment") [ID 8797]

"Baluchis in Iran are both disadvantaged and quite fortuitous in their isolation from mainstream Iranian politics. On the one hand, this seclusion has made Baluchistan one of the poorest regions in Iran, but on the other, their remoteness of shielded the Baluchis from many repressive policies facing other groups. As a result, the Baluchis have a great deal of local control over their day-to-day lives and relations. Whether recent reports of sporadic violence in Baluchistan is politically motivated or a simple reflection of the drug trade remains unclear, as do the full ramifications of the removal of the Taliban from nearby Afghanistan. What is certain is that as long as Baluchi society remains peripheral to centralized Iranian power, the Baluchi will not become a priority to the government’s power base."

Document(s): 00.09.2002 - University of Maryland - Minorities at Risk: Risk Assessment

11.2001 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

11/2001 - ACCORD: In general, there is no persecution of Iranian Baluch ("7th European Country of Origin Information Seminar Berlin, 11 - 12 June 2001: Final Report - Iran") [#7661],  [ID 8798]

"Iranian Baluch are not targeted as a group and not persecuted unless they are involved
in some general opposition-related activities. They are mainly concentrated in
Baluchistan province at the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Their claims should
be examined on an individual basis and recognition should be decided on the merits of
the case. It should also be noted that drug smuggling is an acute security problem in
Sistan Baluchistan province, where there is a high number of security forces and a high
degree of continuous tension because of the proximity of the Afghan and Pakistan
borders and the war against drug trafficking. There are large areas in these provinces
that are not under the control of the Iranian authorities. In addition, the jails are
overcrowded with Afghans and Baluchis who have been lured into the lucrative drug
trade."

Document(s): cois2001-irn.pdf