Sistan-Balochistan, the unhappy province of Iran

From Tehran to Bandar Abbas, via Sanandaj (Kurdistan) and Mashhad, the hundredth day of the revolt was the occasion for new demonstrations across Iran and in several European cities. In Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, the demonstrators did not wait for this symbolic date: they broke out a day earlier after the great prayer, like every Friday for three months. In his sermon, the mawlana Abdol-Hamid, a revered religious leader throughout the province, urged the government to “bring the soldiers back to their barracks, and let them defend the homeland rather than attacking their own people”. The cleric also criticized the regime’s use of executions and death sentences which, according to him, do not respect the legal framework of sharia.