Anti-Afghan protests and disinformation after murders in Iran

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Anti-Afghan sentiment on the rise in Iran after alleged Afghan-linked murders.

Above image: composite based on footage shared by @aliakbarahanjam and @JenayatNews

The murders of two Iranian citizens on 1 July and 17 July 2024 in Khonj city, Fars province, and Tehran, allegedly by Afghan migrants, have sparked protests and acts of violence against Afghans living in Iran. The murder of a 28-year-old Iranian man, reported by Iranian media as having taken place on 17 July 2024 near Khorasan Square, District 15 of Tehran, was allegedly perpetrated by three Afghan migrants, who were said to have stabbed the Iranian man in the chest in a dispute over unpaid rent they were allegedly owed.

Response in Iran to the murders

In Khor city, Fars Province, BBC Persian reported on 17 July 2024 that the houses of Afghan migrants had been attacked and set on fire following the murder in Khonj city. On 19 July 2024, Radio Azadi also reported such attacks and interviewed a local Afghan resident who claimed that people had to flee the area as Iranians refused to sell them food.

On 27 July 2024, footage emerged on X (formerly Twitter) of a group of female protesters in District 15 of Tehran, accompanied by at least two Iranian policemen, chanting “Death to Afghans” and “Afghans commit crimes; government supports,” reportedly in response to the second murder. AW has verified this footage as taking place near Khorasan Square, where the second murder allegedly took place. 

Between 23 and 26 July 2024, both Amu TV and Iran International reported an increase in violence towards Afghans following the second murder, with the latter quoting an Afghan immigrant as saying “because I am Afghan, they broke my nose in Bisim Park.” The park, which is next to where the protest in District 15 took place, is reported by The Independent Persian as being one of the areas where “most of the violence against immigrants takes place,” as well as the areas of Atabak and Hashemabad. 

Additionally, on 27 July 2024, an image began circulating on X, allegedly of an Afghan man with a bloodied face following a beating by Iranians in Qiyam Square, which is also near the area of the protest. The level of harassment in District 15 is such that some Afghans have claimed to be too scared to leave their homes, even to buy food.

Figure: Locations of Bisim Park [35.655369, 51.451735], Qiyam Square [35.669604, 51.436386], Khorasan Square as the approximate location of the murder [35.665234, 51.445612], and verified protest location [35.656036, 51.451014]. Area highlighted is District 15.

Furthermore, imagery began circulating on social media of anti-Afghan banners allegedly posted around District 15, between 20 and 28 July 2024. It is unclear who placed the banners, but the text warns Afghans living in District 15 to leave or face being “forcefully expelled” from the area and the country. Iranians who have rented property or vehicles to Afghans were also warned to reclaim them or face legal action. 

Around this time, on X the hashtag اخراج_افغانی_مطالبه_ملی# began trending, which translates as “Expel Afghans National Demand.” This coincides with a 21 July 2024 post on X by Afghanistan International, which quotes an Afghan resident of District 15 as saying that people in the region had launched an online campaign to obtain collective consent for the deportation of Afghans.

Response in Afghan and Taliban social media and misinformation online

Beyond circulation of the aforementioned hashtag, there is no evidence of a coordinated campaign on social media. However, several old videos have begun recirculating which, due to their nature and the level of engagement, are likely to further stoke tension between Iranians and Afghans.

Pro-Taliban social media accounts did not extensively cover the alleged harassment of Afghan refugees in Iran, although some did address the issue. An X account attributed to Abdul Hamid Khorasani, also known as Nasir Badri, a Tajik Taliban commander from Panjshir, posted the 2022 video above purportedly showing the beating of an Afghan man by Iranian police. The accompanying text urged the “government and people of Iran to stop anti-migrant activities.”

Another pro-Taliban X account with 20,000 followers shared unverified photos of alleged harassment of Afghan refugees in Iran, using the hashtag “Iran! stop torturing Afghans.”

Meanwhile, a pro-Taliban account with a female username, with over 24,000 followers, posted that they are monitoring the issue of Afghan refugees in Iran. They advised people to disregard news from Afghanistan International Media on the topic, labelling it an unreliable source.

On 27 July 2024, various anti-Taliban users with dozens of thousands of followers shared a video allegedly showing the beating of Afghan refugees by Iranian police. The original video was from 2022, and was related to the beating of five men arrested for rape in north-western Iran. Another video showing the alleged beating of an Afghan man by Iranian police, shared on 26 July 2024, was viewed 46 thousand times. The footage was also from June 2022, and not related to the July 2024 incident.

Anti-Taliban accounts on X also condemned Iran for the alleged harassment of Afghan refugees, and criticised the Taliban for their perceived inattention to the problem, including circulating old videos and photos related to assaults on Afghans by Iranians.

A former Hazara/Shia member of parliament, Jafar Mahdavi, currently living Kabul, released a statement on X addressing the alleged harassment of Afghan refugees in Iran. He expressed deep concern about their situation, stating that the prevailing “Afghanphobia” has escalated into outright “anti-Afghan” sentiment. Mahdavi urged Iranian officials to implement special measures to address the situation faced by Afghan refugees.

Official Taliban response

The Taliban continued their engagement with Iranian officials over Afghan refugees issues in Iran throughout the period of escalated tensions. On 6 July 2024, the Taliban’s acting ambassador to Iran, Mawlawi Fazal Mohammad Haqqani, met with the director general of protocol at Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs, Mohsen Mortezaiefar, and reportedly discussed “issues related to the embassy and refugees.” No more details were provided regarding the meeting.

On 30 July 2024, during a visit to Iran, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for political affairs, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, held a meeting with Iranian interior minister, Ahmad Wahidi, and discussed a range of issues, including the problems faced by Afghan refugees: “The meeting focused on strengthening bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Iran, solving the problems of Afghan refugees in various fields and preventing drug trafficking on the border between the two countries,” the office of the Chief of Staff for Prime Minister of the Taliban posted on X.

Official Iranian response

Iranian counterparts did not offer an official response regarding recent tensions, but on 26 July 2024, senior Iranian diplomat Seyed Rasoul Mousavi, posted the following text on his X account:

“Migration is a major international problem. Governments have failed to solve this problem by building walls and strict anti-immigration policies and inhumane anti-immigrant approaches to societies. The truth is bitter, but we know that as long as there is poverty, backwardness and unbalanced development among countries, there will be a problem of migration.”

Afghanistan International reported that in a meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran on 7 August 2024, Alireza Fatehi Nejad, the governor of Shahriar City, Tehran province, announced that a “strike plan to collect illegal immigrants” had started in the city. According to Nejad, Afghans in Iran without documents will be returned to Afghanistan as part of the “strike plan.” The governor’s comments follow increasingly strong anti-immigrant rhetoric on the part of senior Iranian officials over the past year, including from Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi.

Mistreatment of Afghans by Iranian police

As well as violence inflicted by Iranian citizens, since 01 July 2024, AW collected thirteen separate reports of arbitrary arrests and beatings of Afghan migrants. Two claims have emerged from Alborz and Yazd provinces respectively, however, 11 claims were from Tehran alone.

Several videos shared between 20 and 29 July 2024 reportedly show the arrest of groups of young Afghan men in Tehran, with others showing injuries from alleged beatings and mistreatment. However one video, shared on 8 July 2024, shows particularly violent behaviour by Iranian police, with a young Afghan man being loaded into a police car by a man in plain clothes who repeatedly strikes the young man’s head with both fists and a stick, despite no resistance visible from the young man.

On 5 August 2024, a video widely circulated on social media reported to show two Iranian police officers kneeling on the neck of a young Afghan individual prone on the floor, alleged to have been recorded in Absard village, Damavand city. 

Afghanistan International claimed the young man as Seyyed Mehdi, described as a “hard of hearing” 15-year-old. Allegedly, he ran away in fear of the Iranian police, who were reported to be attacking Afghan migrants in the village. The security forces then allegedly gave chase, before forcing the young man to the floor, kneeling on his body and neck, then taking him away in a police car. According to the report, the young man has since been hospitalised with a broken neck.

The conditions in which the arrested migrants are kept are also reportedly dire, with two videos, shared between 16 and 25 July 2024, showing dozens of men grouped together, who are allegedly denied sufficient water or food.

Remarks

Given the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and mass deportations from Pakistan, the number of Afghans migrating to Iran is unlikely to fall considerably, particularly as no concrete solutions to the issue of migration were offered during recent meetings between Iranian and Taliban officials. 

This is compounded by the poor economic situation in Iran, impacted by sanctions and high levels of inflation, which is likely to continue to negatively affect Afghan refugees in the country, as low-paid Iranians and Afghans compete for scarce resources. This enduring tension, together with the ease with which misinformation spreads on social media, mean it is not unlikely that these acts of violence will occur again in future.

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