Kabul Protests After Iran Cages Afghan Detainees



Bangladeshis tormented in Iranian ‘torture cells’





September 09, 2016 10:38 PMThis photo released by the Iranian Students' News Agency shows 'foreign nationals' who were displayed alongside contraband items - including weapons - by police in Shiraz, Iran.The Afghan government is protesting Iran's decision to blindfold several Afghans and put them in cages in the center of Shiraz this week.Nearly two dozen handcuffed Afghan refugees were displayed in a large metal cage. Police also exhibited confiscated items, including weapons, explosives, drugs, alcohol and smuggled soft drinks.The deputy police chief of Shiraz, Nasser Keshawarz, said the refugees were among some 200 foreign nationals who entered Iran illegally and were arrested. Pictures of the public detention went viral on the internet, drawing outrage from Afghans and human rights activists, and an official diplomatic protest from Kabul.The Afghan government is protesting Iran's decision to blindfold several Afghans and put them in cages."Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Returnees strongly condemns this inhumane and humiliating treatment and violation of human dignity of Afghan refugees by the Shiraz city police," the Afghan government said in a statement. "This behavior undoubtedly contradicts Human Rights, the 1951 [Refugee] Convention, and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, and stands against the bilateral refugee agreements between the two countries."There was no response from Tehran or on official state-run media.Mohammad Reza Khoshak, an Afghan parliament member from western Herat province, which borders Iran, denounced the Iranian regime."In Shiraz, a city well-known for its poet Saadi, who asks for equality for all humans, my fellow citizens are put in cages and mistreated in a way similar to what militants of the Islamic State do to their prisoners," he told an Afghan newspaper.Well-known Afghan poet Mustafa Hazara criticized Iran on his Facebook page. "How low a human could go?" he asked. "Look, my Iranian friends, if you travel outside your geographic location [country], you would realize that the value of humans is different than what you think of."Roughly 3 million Afghans live in Iran. Most of them settled there after fleeing war and conflict in their homeland, and many lack basic rights and live without a formal status. About 950,000 Afghans in Iran are classified as refugees.Iran has sent thousands of Afghan refugees, mainly ethnic Shi'ite Hazaras, to Syria to fight alongside forces of Hezbollah and Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard forces in support of the Syrian government. Dozens of Afghans have died in the Syrian war.In his online post, Hazara asked educated Iranians to fight what he termed a systematic prejudice by Iran against Afghan refugees.In general, Afghans living in Iran try to keep a low profile so as to not anger the regime."They [Iranian authorities] are very tough on us, and even one of my colleagues got a threatening message to not talk with foreign media about the incident," Afghan journalist Kazem Sharafuddin told VOA from Mashhad.The caging of Afghans has angered some Iranians, as well. Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's spokesperson, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, condemned the move."We are ashamed before Afghan people, ashamed before humanity," Ramezanzadeh said on his Instagram account.More photos:Speaking about Bangladeshis:Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.comPublished: 2014-12-12 23:35:10.0 BdST Updated: 2014-12-12 23:35:10.0 BdSTThe workers were trapped by human traffickers and had to pay ransoms for securing release from them.The cheated workers shared their experiences with others at a discussion on Bangladesh migration law at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium on Friday.They demanded enforcement of the Migration Act 2013 to save others from similar ordeals.Md Elias of Barisal was one of the workers present at the discussion.He said he went to the United Arab Emirates in 2011 spending Tk 450,000 on a job in which his daily wage was 50 dirham.After 11 months on this job at Abu Dhabi, he was taken to Oman.“From there I was taken on a 26-hour walk across the desert to an unknown place where there were remains of human bodies and stinks of decomposed bodies.“Those who took me there told me that the bodies were of Bangladeshis,” Elias said.He later came to know that the place was in the desert of Iran.Elias said Bangladeshis working in Iran’s neighbouring countries were taken to that place. “A few people die on the way and a few at the place due to torture. Their bones and skulls were left in the desert.”“Those who want to come back home from there are tormented. No one is released unless the captors are paid (equivalent to) Tk 500,000 in ransom,” he added.Elias said his poor family sent Tk 365,000 to the captors for his release and he came back home a pauper after one and a half years of sufferings.Ishaq Faruqi of Patuakhali, who went to the Middle East taking a job in 2012 spending Tk 420,000, endured similar torture.He said he was taken to Iran from Oman through the Arabian Sea on a speedboat.Faruqi said the body of another worker was thrown to the sea when he died on the boat.“I was confined in Iran and asked to pay Tk 1 million in ransom to the captors. They continued torturing me and I bought freedom for around Tk 900,000.”Abu Sayeed Khan from Chandpur said: “I was taken to Dubai with the promise that I will be taken to Greece. Then I was shifted to an island of Iran where I was asked to pay Tk 400,000 in exchange for a job.”He said he was being tormented there until he was rescued by police.Khan returned home with the help of Iranian police.Asma Akter Dalia of Narayanganj went to Dubai after being promised a job by traffickers.“But the person who took me there sold me to another person at 5,000 dirham on arrival. I was not paid for the work I did at their house. The lady at the house used to torture me. At one stage they sent me back,” she said.Dalia said she did not get any compensation from the agency in Bangladesh that sent her abroad.Newsnextbd.com and Warbe Development Foundation organised the discussion titled ‘Ordeals of Migrants: Implementation of Migration Act 2013’.Warbe Chairman Saiful Haq said an unscrupulous quarter was pushing the people into troubles by making false promises.He said the people needed to be aware of the migration law to remain safe from such troubles.