Dealing with Afghan Criminals Misconstrued As Being Anti-Afghan, Says Iranian Minister

Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s Minister of Interior, has said that dealing with Afghan criminals and offenders does not mean that they are anti-Afghans.

On Wednesday, Vahidi told reporters that criminals and offenders exist in the community of five million Afghan immigrants.

He stressed that thousands of immigrants who have committed crimes are currently in Iranian prisons.

He added that these violations will be addressed with strict measures, but they should not be misconstrued as being anti-Afghan. Regarding the repatriation of illegal Afghans, Iran's interior minister stated that the process is actively underway, and approximately 200,000 migrants lacking legal documentation have been returned to their home country so far.

According to Vahidi, some of these refugees come back to Iran after being deported to Afghanistan. To solve this problem, he said that stricter legal solutions should be adopted.

In response to a journalist who asked, "Do the Taliban help you in the process of returning Afghan immigrants?", the Iranian minister said that the issue is not "serious" for them.

In recent weeks, dozens of Iranian citizens protested on the streets of Eqbaliyeh city of Qazvin province over the presence of Afghan immigrants.

With increasing pressure on Afghan immigrants in Iran, videos circulated on social media show that some Afghan immigrants have faced severe physical abuse from Iranian citizens.