A 12-year-old Baloch child, Omar Shahbakhsh, who had been missing for 15 days, was found in Al-Ghadir Camp in Zahedan and subsequently released.
According to Kolbarnews, on Wednesday, January first, 2025, Omar Shahbakhsh, the 12-year-old son of Karim Bakhsh, a resident of Zahedan, was located after extensive efforts by his family. Omar had been detained as a “foreign national” on December 18, 2024, in the Dayiabad area of Zahedan by security forces and transferred to Al-Ghadir Camp.
After two weeks of relentless follow-ups with government agencies, hospitals, and issuing missing person notices, his family finally found him in the camp. Omar was released following administrative procedures after spending 15 days in detention.
The detention of children without due legal process and their confinement alongside adult detainees is a clear violation of children’s rights and human principles. Such actions can lead to severe psychological harm, including fear and anxiety. These practices violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international and domestic obligations regarding the protection of children’s rights.
It is worth noting that in the past two years, following protests in Balochistan, many Baloch citizens some without official identification documents and others with valid IDs have been detained by military and security forces under the pretext of being foreign nationals. While some of these individuals have managed to return to Iran, reports indicate that several have died in destination countries, and others are still struggling to return.
