72 hours of armed conflict in Miankaleh end; four "masked hunters" arrested
The commander of the Iranian Environmental Protection Agency's protection unit has announced the end of a 72-hour armed clash between 100 hunters and environmentalists in the Miankaleh Wetland Protected Area.
According to the Young Journalists Club, Colonel Jamshid Mohabat Khani said on Friday: "For the past three days, about 100 hunters with their faces covered and wearing masks have stormed into protected areas to protest the non-issuance of hunting licenses over the past two years and clashed with rangers, in which four rangers were superficially injured."
Since Wednesday, February 10, numerous reports have been published in local media and later in official Iranian media regarding armed clashes between masked individuals and environmentalists in the Miankaleh Wetland and Ashuradeh Island.
But finally, after three days, according to this senior official in the field of environmental protection of the Islamic Republic, "4 of the masked hunters were arrested and the rest will be arrested soon."
The Miankaleh International Wetland is one of the nine biological reserves on Earth and the first Iranian wetland registered in the World Convention on Wetlands, and is an important habitat for migratory birds.
The Miankaleh Peninsula, Gorgan Bay, and Ashuradeh Island are part of the 68,800-hectare Miankaleh Wildlife Sanctuary, which covers 2.8 percent of the total area of Mazandaran Province.
On Wednesday, February 10, Ali Kalaneh, head of the Miankaleh Wildlife Sanctuary, told ISNA news agency that these hunters attacked six rangers of this protected area with shotguns and that there was a lack of facilities, including "bulletproof vests and helmets, boats suitable for deep water, and shockers" to defend and protect the wetland.
At the same time, Hossein Ali Ebrahimi Karnam, Director General of Mazandaran Environmental Protection, told the Young Journalists Club: "Although attacks by illegal hunters on Miankaleh environmentalists have occurred in previous years, and for example, on February 15, 2019, four environmentalists were injured, this time the recent attacks have been more widespread than in the past and are unprecedented in some ways."
On Thursday, February 11, Rouhollah Selgi, deputy governor of Mazandaran for political, security and social affairs, told the state-run IRNA news agency: "The clash between hunters and environmentalists in the Miankaleh wetland was not related to the geopolitical borders of Mazandaran and occurred within the Golestan province, which, of course, was managed in recent days."
The same day, Fars News Agency also announced in a report: "It is said that about 10 days ago, nearly 150 hunters entered the Ashuradeh region for illegal hunting, and this incident was repeated on February 10."
According to Moslem Ahangari, commander of the Mazandaran Environmental Protection Unit, in early February, "a number of hunters" were engaged in "illegal bird hunting" on the coasts of Ashuradeh and Bandar Turkman. They were warned, but they opened fire on the rangers. These clashes were repeated six days later, and then intensified on February 12 and 19.
Finally, on the evening of February 11, the commander of the Environmental Protection Organization's protection unit confirmed the arrest of four of the 100 attackers of the previous days, and stated: "If the hunters have any demands, they should present their demands by referring to the Environmental Organization and through legal means."
According to some activists, given that the February clashes between local hunters and environmentalists are not the first this year or the only one in recent years, it is likely that with increasing economic pressures and a decrease in environmental attention in the Islamic Republic's major programs and government budget, other similar incidents will occur in this area or other protected areas in Iran.
Source: DW
