RFERL:

Security forces have arrested one of the men suspected of kidnapping dozens of girls and young women in the city of Iranshahr, southeast Iran, the local prosecutor has announced.

Iranshahr, a city of 150,000 located in the mainly Baluchi Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchestan, has experienced a spate of kidnappings in recent weeks. Residents learned about the abductions from the city’s Friday prayer leader, Sunni cleric Molawi Tayyib MullaZahei, who spoke about the unprecedented series of kidnappings in his June 15 sermon.

MullaZahei said the families of the girls had personally informed him about the kidnappings, and urged the city’s Governor, who was in attendance at the prayer meeting celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, to find those responsible.

Following MullaZahei’s sermon, hundreds of angry residents assembled in front of the governor’s office two days later to demand authorities find the culprits and bring them to justice.

The same day, state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) cited Iranshahr’s Revolution and Public Prosecutor Mohammad Khani as saying, “One of the elements suspected of kidnapping girls in Iranshahr has been arrested by the security forces,” adding, “The investigation about the motives behind the kidnappings and efforts to identify the remaining suspects are currently underway.”

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