Iranian authorities should stop “the use of unlawful force” against worshippers and demonstrators in the Sunni city of Zahedan, Amnesty International has demanded.

The rights group reported that crackdown on protesters belonging to the Baluchi minority in Zahedan, southwest of Iran, intensified on October 20 as the security forces “resorted to severe beatings, unlawful use of tear gas and water cannons” and “carried out mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment.”

According to Amnesty, hundreds of people, including “scores of children” were arrested last week, with many of them still remaining “forcibly disappeared.”

The report also mentioned that many of the arrested individuals, even children, were tortured by security forces.

“Security forces removed detainees’ shirts and made them stand facing the wall while blindfolded before firing paintball launchers at their backs and hips at close range,” read the report by Amnesty International.

The people of Sistan-Baluchestan, with Zahedan as provincial capital, have been holding weekly protests after security forces opened fire at peaceful protesters, killing nearly 100 on September 30, 2022, a day known as the Bloody Friday of Zahedan.

Zahedan is one of the few Sunni-majority cities in predominantly Shiite Iran.

“The authorities are ramping up their brutality to stop Baluchi protesters from gathering each week in Zahedan,” warned Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

She also called on the international community to urge Iran “to halt the unlawful use of force and firearms against peaceful protesters, stop torturing detainees and release children and all others detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights.”

According to Eltahawy, the systematic impunity of the Iranian officials has allowed them to impose more severe crackdowns on the protesters.

It is essential that criminal investigations be launched into the crimes committed by the Iranian officials “under the principle of universal jurisdiction,” she stressed.

A witness to the October 20 violence told Amnesty International that security forces abandoned a wounded child in the streets even though he had a bleeding gash.

“Many detainees including children sustained fractures to their hands and legs,” the witnessed added.

Another woman also called on the organization to “ensure the voices of Baluchi protesters are heard,” warning that every Friday in the region might witness another heinous bloodshed.

According to reports, on October 20, security was tense around the Makki Jameh Mosque of Zahedan, where outspoken Sunni leader Mowlavi Abdolhamid weekly delivers fiery sermons criticizing the Islamic Republic and its policies.

Abdolhamid has repeatedly called for an end to repression in the past one year and respect for civic and human rights in Iran.

The heavy security atmosphere on October 20 can be related to a wave of crackdowns against the Sunni community, particularly dissident Sunni clerics and their close circles, including arrests and travel bans, especially since the Israel-Hamas conflict began earlier in the month.

Amnesty International also called on the international community to press Tehran to cooperate with the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission and provide it with “unimpeded access.”