(2 May 2022)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4377976
++The Associated Press is adhering to Iranian law that stipulates all media are banned from providing BBC Persian, VOA Persian, Manoto TV and Iran International any coverage from Iran, and under this law if any media violate this ban the Iranian authorities can immediately shut down that organisation in Tehran.++
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Tehran - 25 April 2022
1. Afghan refugee Zahra Husseini and her children
2. Husseini washing dishes
ANNOTATION: Zahra Husseini fled to Iran from Afghanistan after the Taliban killed her husband and wanted to marry her off to one of their fighters.
3. Various of Husseini with her children
ANNOTATION: She and her two children are among at least a million Afghans who have come to Iran since the Taliban takeover.
4. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Zahra Husseini, refugee from Afghanistan:
"When the Taliban came, they killed my husband, they said we will marry widowed women. We ran away toward Iran. We waited at the border for five days and were on the road for 10 days. Some days we walked for three, four or five hours. Sometimes we took a car or a motorcycle. Finally, we arrived here."
Tehran - 17 April 2022
5. Various of Abbas Husseini, Afghan journalist in Iran
ANNOTATION: Analysts say the situation could spiral out of control as the large number of refugees is causing tensions inside Iran and along the border.
6. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Abbas Husseini, Afghan journalist in Iran:
"Based on our statistics, 5,000 to 6,000 people cross the border into Iran, mostly illegally. This has unfortunately turned into a lucrative business for human traffickers between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Tehran - 29 April 2022
7. Various of Afghan men working on building site
ANNOTATION: Some Afghans scrape by as labourers, but Iran's sanctions-stricken economy has limited capacity to absorb them. As much of Afghanistan faces hunger, escape can still seem preferable.
Tehran - 25 April 2022
8. Various of Afghan refugee children playing
ANNOTATION: Many refugees are in legal limbo with little to live on. Some of them hope to move on from Iran, ultimately making it to Europe.
STORYLINE:
The Taliban members who killed her activist husband offered Zahra Husseini a deal: Marry one of us and you'll be safe.
Husseini decided to flee. Through swathes of lawless flatlands she and her two small children trekked by foot, motorcycle and truck until reaching Iran.
As Afghanistan plunged into economic crisis after the United States withdrew troops and the Taliban seized power, the 960-kilometer (572-mile) long border with Iran became a lifeline for Afghans who piled into smugglers' pickups in desperate search of money and work.
Iran estimates at least a million Afghans have sought refuge in the country over the last eight months. Recently as many as 5,000 have crossed a day, raising tensions in the border area and further inside Iran.
In the past weeks, skirmishes erupted between Taliban and Iranian border guards. Afghans in three cities rallied against Iran. Demonstrators hurled stones and set fires outside an Iranian consulate. A fatal stabbing spree, allegedly by an Afghan migrant, at Iran's holiest shrine sent shockwaves through the country.
Since the Taliban takeover, Iran has escalated its deportations of Afghan migrants, according to the U.N. migration agency, warning that its sanctions-hit economy cannot handle the influx.
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