Amnesty International called on Iranian authorities on Friday to immediately release 16-year-old Mahmoud Baluchi Razi, arbitrarily detained since December 7 and subjected to torture to force his father to surrender.
“Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Mahmoud Baluchi Razi from his school in Nikshahr County, Sistan and Baluchestan province,” Amnesty International Iran posted on its social media.
For several days, the authorities subjected the teen to enforced disappearance by refusing to disclose his fate and whereabouts to his family, the post said.
Researchers at Amnesty International learned that interrogators beat Mahmoud Baluchi Razi and forced him to phone and tell his family that his father must surrender himself to secure his son’s release.
“Days later, agents brought Mahmoud Baluchi Razi before a prosecutor who ordered him to sign documents that he could not read or understand,” the post added.
Amnesty warned that Mahmoud Baluchi Razi is being denied access to a lawyer and is being held in a youth detention facility in Kerman province, around 800 km from his family.
"Pending release, he must be protected from further torture and other ill-treatment and given access to his family and lawyer," Amnesty said.
Apart from Amnesty's social media posts, no other reports on the case have emerged.
Predominantly Sunni in Shia-majority country, concentrated in impoverished Sistan-Baluchestan province, the Baluch minority face discrimination, Amnesty International said in its latest annual report.
“Authorities used the death penalty as a tool of political repression against protesters, dissidents and ethnic minorities,” the report said. “Oppressed minorities, including Baluchis and Afghan nationals, made up a disproportionate number of those executed.”
"Security forces unlawfully fired at people in cars with impunity, causing deaths and injuries, disproportionately affecting the Baluchi minority," the report added.
