Reuters: Around 1,000 Afghans demonstrated on Thursday against alleged ill-treatment and executions of some Afghan refugees by Iranian authorities on charges of drug-smuggling.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Around 1,000 Afghans demonstrated on Thursday against alleged ill-treatment and executions of some Afghan refugees by Iranian authorities on charges of drug-smuggling.
The protesters threw eggs on the gate of Tehran’s consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad and burnt down an effigy of Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We want an end to the execution of Afghans. We expect Iran to not treat Afghans badly,” a protest leader said as police tried to control the crowd.
The demonstration ended peacefully after couple of hours.
Iran has been host to millions of Afghan refugees since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and later during the civil war in 1990s. In recent years it has been deporting some of them back to Afghanistan.
Tehran has confirmed that it has recently sent some Afghan refugees to the gallows, accused of smuggling drugs, and hundreds more are reported to be on death row.
Some Afghan lawmakers say dozens of Afghans have been executed in Iran in recent weeks and there have been a series of protests in various parts of Afghanistan.
(Reporting by Mohammad Rafiq, writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Sanjeev Miglani)
