HERAT (SW) – The Afghan and Iranian border commissioners conducted a joint investigation into the alleged drowning of migrants case, but Tehran did not accept the documented proof presented in this regard.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gran Hewad said in a video message that the Afghan border commissioners had shared documents and other evidence with the Iranian side, but Tehran did not accept the documents. According to him, the Afghan commissioners have handed over the investigation to the diplomatic authorities on the basis of a border agreement between the two countries.
Hewad said Iran has also appointed a diplomatic mission to investigate the incident and to work with the Afghan delegation.
The spokesman added the government has distributed financial compensations among the grieving families of the Afghan migrants.
Abdul Sattar Hosseini, a member of the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) and a member of the commission investigating the incident of drowning Afghan migrants, told Salam Watandar they had obtained the necessary evidence, but that the Iranian delegation was reluctant to talk about it.
Hosseini said their investigations show that 39 Afghan job seekers have been thrown into the Harirod River by Iranian border guards "cruelly" after being tortured, fourteen of whom have been rescued.
Abdul Hamid Tahmasi, head of the Afghan Investigative Committee, said last week that the bodies of 11 Afghan nationals and four smugglers had disappeared. He also said that 12 bodies had been found in the Harirod River.
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