The area also lies on a major trafficking route for drugs and petrol, which is highly subsidised in Iran and a key source of income for smugglers.
A low-level violent insurgency in Sistan and Baluchestan involves several militant groups, including those demanding more autonomy for the region. The relationship between its predominantly Sunni residents and Irans Shiite theocracy long has been fraught. Sistan and Baluchestan is one of most unstable and least developed parts of Iran. “This targeted shutdown was very intentional because they knew the realities of this province, where people are poor and use cheap phones as opposed to computers, Alimardani said. The area already suffered from unreliable internet connections. Given that authorities targeted the mobile network and not the landline in Sistan and Baluchestan, the disruption likely wouldnt appear on regular network data, said Mahsa Alimardani, researcher at Article 19, an international organization that fights censorship. Hundreds were reportedly killed in the crackdown nationwide. In the fall of 2019, for instance, Iran imposed a near nationwide internet blackout as anti-government protests sparked by an increase in fuel prices roiled the capital of Tehran and other cities. The Iranian government previously has cut off internet access and cellphone service in tense times.
Officials insisted that calm had returned to the streets. Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, vowed Friday to investigate the deaths. Many rights activists in the area reported higher death tolls without offering evidence. The border shootings and ensuing clashes killed at least two people, the government said. The violence killed one policeman, he added.Įarlier this week, protesters attacked the district governors office and stormed two police stations in the city of Saravan, outraged over the shootings of fuel smugglers trying to cross back into Iran from Pakistan on Monday. Crowds with light arms and grenade launchers descended on Kurin checkpoint near Irans border with Pakistan on Thursday, Abouzar Mehdi Nakhaie, the governor of Zahedan, the provincial capital, said in comments carried by Irans semiofficial ISNA news agency.
#INTERNET BLACKOUTS SKYROCKET AMID GLOBAL UNREST SERIES#
The week saw a series of escalating confrontations between police and protesters.
Shutting down the internet to block news and pictures getting out makes (authorities) feel more comfortable opening fire. This is Irans traditional response to any kind of protest, Amir Rashidi from Miaan Group, a human rights organization that focuses on digital security in the Middle East, told The Associated Press on Saturday. After four days of unverified localized regional network disruptions amid the protests, NetBlocks, which monitors worldwide internet access, confirmed a new disruption to internet connectivity in the province beginning late Saturday. Starting Wednesday, the government shut down the mobile data network across Sistan and Baluchestan, where 96% of the population accesses the internet only through their phones, rights groups said, crippling the key communication tool. The reports of internet interference come as Iranian authorities and semiofficial news agencies increasingly acknowledge the turmoil challenging local authorities in the southeast a highly sensitive matter in a country that seeks to repress all hints of political dissent. Several rights groups reported in a joint statement that authorities shut down the mobile data network in the restive province of Sistan and Baluchestan, calling the disruptions an apparent tool to conceal the governments harsh crackdown on protests convulsing the area. Irans impoverished southeast has been experiencing wide disruptions of internet services, experts said, as unrest gripped the remote province after fatal border shootings.
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