Iranian authorities have barred Afghan migrants from working in open-air markets in Zahedan, a city in southeastern Iran, according to a municipal official.
Hamid Roshandel, a senior official in Zahedan’s municipality, said that 11 Afghan migrants were identified working at the city’s Monday Market and handed over to the police.
“In accordance with Article 181 of the Labor Law, foreign nationals without work permits are prohibited from working in Zahedan’s open-air markets, and violators will face strict action,” Roshandel was quoted as saying by IRNA, Iran’s state news agency.
He added that authorities have installed 15 informational banners across the markets and distributed 1,500 notices to vendors, shop owners, and street sellers, warning them against employing Afghan migrants.
The head of Zahedan’s Organization for Urban Occupation Regulation said the measures were aimed at organizing the city’s job market and ensuring order and security in commercial spaces. Officials, he added, would continue monitoring local markets to enforce the restrictions.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly stressed their intention to expel Afghan migrants, and many Afghans in the country have expressed concern over increasingly strict limitations on their ability to work and live there.
