‘Women are our red line’: Iranian military’s killing of Baloch women fuels outrage in Balochistan

Iran’s Baloch population is enduring a deep sense of anger, deprivation, and marginalisation due to the oppressive and discriminatory policies of the ruling Shia-Persian-centric Iranian regime. The continued suppression of the voices and aspirations of the Baloch, the unending persecution of dissidents, and unabated human rights violations have increased political unrest and provided momentum to the local insurgency against the regime in the restive southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.

On 1 July, 2025, Iranian military and intelligence forces stormed Gonich village in the Kavandar district of Khash, Sistan-Baluchestan province, and opened fire on village women protesting their conduct. The direct shooting killed two women and injured ten others.

The military attack on defenceless women and the resulting casualties grieved and angered the people across Balochistan. After the Zahedan Massacre (Bloody Friday), the Gonich tragedy has once again united the Baloch and amplified their voice against the atrocities of the Shia-Persian theocracy.

On Bloody Friday (30 September, 2022), Iranian security forces killed more than 100 protesters and worshippers, including at least 13 children, for holding a protest in Balochistan’s capital, Zahedan against the rape of a teenage girl by an Iranian police commander in Chabahar. Despite a year-long series of Friday protests demanding justice and action against the perpetrators, the Iranian government upheld its “culture of impunity for state-led atrocities”.

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According to the available details of the Gonich incident, during their raid on Gonich village, the security personnel allegedly assaulted and injured a Baloch woman who objected to their conduct. Hearing the screams of this woman, other women from the village gathered for her protection and resisted the assault. However, the security forces clashed with them and opened fire, resulting in the death of 40-year-old Khan Bibi Bameri, while 11 other women were seriously injured. Reyhaneh Bameri, a pregnant woman, lost her foetus after being “kicked and shot with pellets by agents”. On 4 July, Lal Bibi Bameri, one of the injured women, succumbed to injuries in the Khomeini Hospital in Khash.

Some videos from the scene show the Baloch women resisting the firing and assault of the forces by throwing stones. After the incident, women protestors blocked the entry road to the village by burning tires.

1 July, 2025: A screenshot from a video showing Baloch Women resisting the assault of the Iranian security forces in Gonich village [Source: bramsh.org]

The London-based Baloch Advocacy and Studies Centre condemned the “unlawful use of lethal and excessive force by Iranian security and military forces against civilian women in Gonich village,” adding that “the Iranian regime has exploited the current climate [post Iran-Israel conflict] to intensify repression against the Baloch people.”

Recently, a group of UN experts urged Iran not to use post-conflict situations as an “opportunity to suppress dissent and increase repression”. They also expressed concern about “reports of incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence in the media, which have labelled entire minority communities as traitors…”

In a state where dissent is a crime, criticizing the regime and its security forces takes extra courage and involves high risk. Still, all quarters of the Baloch society have strongly denounced the incident, calling for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

A group of women held a protest demonstration in front of the Khash Governorate on 4 July, demanding justice for the women victims and action against the perpetrators of the Gonich attack.

Several Baloch tribal elders have come forward and expressed the sentiments of the people. Sardar Yosef Naroei reacted to the Gonich incident, saying, “The Baloch are noble, but their patience is not endless. The fire of the people’s anger cannot be extinguished with bullets. Our women are our red line.” Similarly, Ali Raza Shahbakhsh condemned the incident and said that “the Baloch women are our red line and our sacred point. Any violation of the status of Baloch women is unacceptable, and we will not allow such wrongful and harmful actions to continue.” Sardar Amanullah Brahui termed firing on unarmed women an “unforgivable and unforgettable crime,” stating that “no one can expect the Baloch nation to remain silent in the face of such a crime.”

Additionally, over 50 tribes and clans issued separate statements, expressing similar viewpoints and strongly denouncing the Gonich incident, while seeking justice.

On 4 July, 2025, Maulana Abdolhamid, the most prominent Sunni religious leader in Iran, said in his Friday sermon that he had asked the Provincial Security Council to investigate the Gonich incident impartially and punish the perpetrators legally.” According to him, “the provincial authorities have promised to handle the matter fairly, and to punish the wrongdoer, whoever it may be.”

The Sunni-Baloch insurgent group Jaish Al-Adl described the Gonich incident as a “heinous crime,” declaring that “the mothers and sisters of this land [Balochistan] are not without heirs,” and warning that “this cruelty will not go unanswered.”

Following the Gonich incident, a surge in militant attacks has also occurred amid the increase in sociopolitical unrest in Balochistan. Reportedly, an attack on a security forces camp near Zahedan killed seven Iranian security personnel on 8 July. A security operation in Chabahar allegedly resulted in the killing or arrest of six militants on 9 July. A militant attack in Chabahar on 11 July resulted in the killing of three security personnel and a militant. On 26 July, Jaish al-Adl militants attacked the Provincial Judiciary Department in Zahedan, ensuing clashes resulted in the killing of at least nine people, including four security personnel, three assailants, and two civilians. An attack in Zahedan killed a Basij paramilitary force commander on 27 July. These armed clashes reveal a considerable increase in insurgent activities in the province during the last month.

The socioeconomic landscape of Balochistan is characterized by the lowest human development and the highest rates of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy in Iran. Comprising about five per cent of Iran’s total population, the Baloch have a disproportionately high share in executions and killings by the security forces. According to the Annual Human Rights Report of the Baloch Activists Campaign, in 2024, at least 122 people, including eight women, were killed and 114 others were injured in Balochistan as a result of raids, assaults and indiscriminate shooting by Iranian security forces. Being non-Persian and non-Shia, the Baloch face apartheid-like structural discrimination in Iran with undeclared curbs on their identity, language, culture, and political and religious rights.

For almost a century, the Baloch have faced extreme brutalities, political exclusion, deprivation of national and cultural rights, and continued attempts at forced assimilation by successive Iranian regimes. However, the Baloch have refused to give up their identity, homeland, culture and national rights by resisting the oppression with an unbreakable will to survive and exist. Tehran commits tragedies like Bloody Friday and the Gonich incident to suppress and subjugate the will of the Baloch; these, on the contrary, work as catalysts to unify them and strengthen their national spirit to resist and survive.

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