In violation of an agreement with Kabul, Iran continues to execute the Afghan refugees on death row in the neighbouring country, an official alleged on Sunday.
Two more Afghans were executed in Sistan city of Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan, on May 7, the official told Pajhwok Afghan News on condition of anonymity.
He identified the victims as Khalil, son of Sher Ahmad, and Hamid, son of Adam Khan, from the Nahtani sub-tribe of Baloch, from Nimroz province. The two were laid to rest in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz, 15 days ago, he revealed.
The Afghans were killed by Iranian border police guards when they attempted to enter Iran last Friday night, a police official, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok Afghan News. There were a total nine Afghans and eight of them were killed, he said.
In another incident, two Afghans were wounded when Iranian border police opened fire on them in Nimroz on April 11. The men were shot at after they tried to cross the border into Iran from King district. They are residents of Faryab province.
Similarly, a 35-year-old widow who wanted to visit her brother in Iran was shot dead by Iranian border police five months back. On March 26, Iran expelled 30 Afghan refugees, residents of Charburjak and Chakhansoor districts of Nimroz.
Refugee and returnee affairs director, Mohammad Akbar Chakhansoor, said 12 to 20 Afghan families came back to Afghanistan from Iran on a daily basis through the Abresham Bridge.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Zahir Faqiri, said they had received reports that two Afghans had been killed by Iranians. He added the Afghan embassy in Tehran had been asked for investigating the executions.
But calls seeking comments from Iranian embassy officials in Kabul were not answered.
In January, Minister of Justice Habibullah Ghalib said 5,000 Afghan refugees, 60 percent of them accused of drug trafficking, 10 percent of robberies and the rest of other crimes, were languishing in Iranian jails.
About three million Afghan refugees are living in Iran, with almost a million without legal documents.