Iran deputy FM meets with Afghanistan’s Abdullah on Harirud incident

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand and Head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah reviewed the results of a probe into a deadly incident along the Iran-Afghanistan borders.

News ID: 81197

Date: 27 May 2020 - 15:26

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Baharvand met with Abdullah in Kabul on Tuesday night.

During the meeting, Baharvand underlined the need for cooperation of both countries within the framework of the joint committee to probe the case.

Abdullah stressed the good neighborliness between Iran and Afghanistan, saying that his country wants a serious and fair investigation into the human tragedy.

Earlier in the day, the Iranian delegation held a meeting with an Afghan delegation headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar in Kabul.

During the meeting, Atmar called for Iran's full cooperation on joint investigations related to the Harirud incident.

"The purpose of this research is to get the facts, to take legal action against the perpetrators, and to take the necessary measures to prevent such unfortunate incidents in the future, which may affect the relations between the two friendly and neighboring countries," he said.

On May 1, some claims surfaced in media reports that Iranian border guards had tortured and thrown as many as 57 Afghans into the Hari River (Harirud) in western Herat province to prevent their illegal entry into Iran. The Khaama Press News Agency said at least 23 of them drowned in Harirud.

Tehran has roundly rejected the claims, saying the incident took place on the Afghan side of the border and Iranian forces had no role in the incident.

Iran has extensive evidence that the incident has not happened on its borders. According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, the confirmed reports received from the border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran show that such an incident has not occurred on the mentioned date and location. He noted that Iran has not been associated with Afghan migrants and the claims of transferring people to camps or inhumane treatment are completely baseless. He added that due to weather conditions of the region, not a single Afghan citizen entered the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran on that date.

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