On May 1, 2020, a group of Afghan refugees tried to enter Iran and drowned in the Hari River on the border between Iran and Afghanistan.
Reuters and other new agencies reported, quoting Afghan lawmakers, that Iran's border guards killed the migrants by forcing them into the river at gunpoint. [1] [2]
50 to 70 Afghan refugees tried to enter Iran by crossing the Hari River, which borders Herat Province with Iran, on May 1, 2020. These Afghans, according to some Afghan officials and the survivors, were arrested by Iranian border guards and after being beaten and tortured were thrown into the Hari River. [3] [4] [5]
The Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the incident and that initial assessments indicated that at least 70 Afghans trying to enter Iran from Herat had been beaten and thrown into the Hari River. [6]
By May 7, 2020, the bodies of 17 drowned immigrants had been found. According to Abdul Ghani Nouri, the governor of Gulan in Herat Province, there are signs of torture on the bodies. [7] [8]
Reuters quoted Noor Mohammad, one of the survivors of the incident, that “After being tortured, the Iranian soldiers threw all of us in the Hari River,” [9]
One survivor told reporters the guards hit him with a pipe and pushed him into the river. Another said they had beaten him before throwing him into the river. [10]
Citing to the slope of the Harirod River, Iranian officials have denied the allegations, as the bodies must have been found in Iranian soil if the Afghan claims were believed, but according to the Afghan workers' comments, the bodies were found on Afghan soil, so it would not be acceptable for Iranian border guards to throw the Afghans into Hari. Afghan officials blamed that the Iranian guards had entered well into the Afghan territory.
The forensic doctor of Herat city declared that there was no evidence of torture on the bodies. Also, due to the muddy nature of the Helmand River, no traces of mud have been seen on the bodies. [11] [12] [13]
Former President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan had ordered an investigation into the incident. Ghani formed a ten-member team to check the recovered bodies. Signs of torture on some of the bodies have been observed. [14] On 11 May, hundreds of Afghans gathered in front of the Iranian Consulate in Herat to show their anger towards the death of their fellow citizens who were allegedly drowned by Iranian border guards. The crowd chanted, “Death to Rouhani, Death to Khamenei,” [15] [16]
Afghanistan is a landlocked mountainous country located on the Iranian Plateau, at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. The country is the 40th largest in the world in size. Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, located in the Kabul Province. With a location at the intersection of major trade routes, Afghanistan has attracted a succession of crickets since the sixth century BCE.
Herāt is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains in the fertile valley of the Hari River in the western part of the country. An ancient civilization on the Silk Road between West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia, it serves as a regional hub in the country's west.
The Hari River or Herat River or Tejen River or Harirud is a river flowing 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) from the mountains of central Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, where it forms the Tejen oasis and disappears in the Karakum Desert. In its lower course, the river forms a northern part of the border between Afghanistan and Iran, and a southeastern part of the border between Turkmenistan and Iran.
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is an Afghan former politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban.
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The Ghurian District is an Afghan administrative district (Wuleswali) in far western Afghanistan in western Herat Province. The district is bordered by Iran to the west and northwest. It is then bordered by other districts of Herat, Kohsan District in the north, Zendeh Jan District to the east, and Adraskan District to the south. The Hari River flows through the northeastern end of the district. The border with Iran is marshy. The population is 85,900 and the district center is the city of Ghurian.
Ghurian is a city and the administrative center of Ghurian District in Herat Province, Afghanistan. It is 790 m high with a population of more than 54,000 people. It is situated south of the Hari River along the Mashhad-Herat highway at 34.34°N 61.47°E. There is a local TV station and a health center. Ghurian is close to the old city of Pushang. In 2020 Ghurian was connected by rail to Khaf in Iran.
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The Salma Dam, officially named Afghan-India Friendship Dam, is an embankment dam located on the Hari River in Chishti Sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan. It has a hydroelectric power station that produces 42 MW (56,000 hp) of electricity in addition to providing irrigation for 75,000 ha of farmland.
Afghans in Iran are citizens of Afghanistan who are temporarily residing in Iran as refugees or asylum seekers. They form the largest percent of the Afghan diaspora. The first wave of Afghans crossed into Iran after the start of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979.
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Events in the year 2020 in Afghanistan.
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The Fall of Herat was a battle and subsequent capture of Herat by Taliban fighters. The attack on the city started around 28 July 2021, and ended in Taliban victory by 13 August of the same year. Several of the surrounding districts fell to the Taliban from June to mid-July, leaving only the city and two other districts in government hands by 10 July. The border crossings in Herat Province were captured by the Taliban on 9 July, raising prices of goods inside the city. Ismail Khan, former governor and warlord, led a public uprising force to assist the Afghan National Security Forces in defending the city.
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