Reactions continue to the show of Afghan refugees "in a cage"
After widespread coverage of the display of a number of Afghan citizens in cages by the police in Shiraz, on Saturday, September 1, the Fars provincial police denied the news and announced that those on display were "thieves and criminals."
According to Fars News Agency, Fariba Estavari, the deputy head of social affairs for the Fars provincial police force, on Saturday called the news spread on social media about foreign nationals being displayed in the province a "lie" and said that the images published in the media "do not relate to this province."
On the other hand, Bahram Parsai, a representative from Shiraz in the parliament, told ISNA news agency on Saturday that according to the Fars provincial police, the images of the arrests were not attributed to foreign nationals, but rather, these individuals were "criminals, armed robbers, and smugglers."
These statements come despite the fact that in one of the photos published in the media, the caption "Arrest of Foreign Nationals" is posted on a fenced area resembling a cage.
Nemat Ahmadi, a lawyer, university professor, and attorney in Tehran, told Radio Farda, "Even assuming that these people were not Afghan citizens, it is not legal to display them or allow their photos to be published."
Regarding the reason for such behavior by the Shiraz police force, Saeed Peyvandi, a sociologist and university professor in Paris, told Radio Farda, "The cultural vacuum of how to live with non-Iranian citizens has provided the grounds for xenophobia and such behavior."
Hafiz Ahmad Miakhil, press advisor to the Afghan Minister of Refugees and Repatriates, condemned this act in an interview with Radio Farda on Saturday, describing it as "against human dignity."
On Tuesday, September 6, the police force held an exhibition of "Discoveries from Shiraz Police Stations in the Past 48 Hours," which displayed some of the goods seized by the force, including drugs, alcoholic beverages, and "illegal" films.
The published images of Afghan citizens also relate to this exhibition; a number of "Afghan citizens" who had been arrested for not having a residence permit in Iran were displayed with their eyes covered with white cloth and a metal fence around them.
The "demonstration of Afghan citizens at the fence" led to protesting reactions from many Iranian and Afghan users on social media.
Source: Raziv Farda
