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275 Pedro Luis Rubio Terés The iranian elites as perceived from their society and… The Hazaras, descendants of the Mongols, constitute a downtrodden minority in Afghanistan frequently seeking for political asylum in Iran. This seems only natural, since they practice the same religion and speak a dialect close enough to Farsi (Dari). Without any reliable official figures, the current population in Iran is estimated in two million92. Such an important flux of refugees is supposedly employed by the officeholders to nurture the consignment of Shiite «volunteers» to defend the Alawite regime under the Marxist-style slogan «Shiites of the world, come to fight in Syria». The Hazara are provided with basic military training in the recruitment centers of Qom and Mashhad (together with Yemenis and Pakistanis) and sent to the front under the promise of obtaining Iranian citizenship upon their return93. It is not the first time that this minority is employed by the Iranian authorities in a military confrontation, as it happened during the Iraqi invasion in the 80’s. And yet the overwhelmed Afghan authorities remain ever since incapable of restraining these violations, for fear that a sudden deportation of the immigrants would collapse their fragile institutions. The massacre of Shia in Mecca On September 24, 2015, another tragedy desolated the pilgrims taking part in the Hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca). The bloodiest incident of the last 25 years took the lives of 717 believers injuring 863, as a result of one of the worst stampedes in history94. This time it took place in Mina, the spot where Muslims throw stones to the three pillars representing the devil. Still, dramatic as it may seem, this massacre was merely another black date to be remembered in the capital of Islam95, except for the reason that it became a milestone in the history of Sunni-Shiite relation. The official figures informed in the beginning that at least 90 victims were Iranian, yet the later numbers rose up to 239 and finally to 464, as informed by the Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization. Speculations rapidly began to spread among through the media, with the most common versions denouncing a planned stampede triggered by some Saudi agents. When the pilgrims rushed to leave the facilities in desperation, the local police closed the doors in order to trap, according to various testimonies, «as many Shia as possible». 92  MAY, Michelle. «Anywhere but home: an Afghan laborer in Iran dreams of life in Sweden», Tehran: The Guardian, 2016. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/ feb/03/afghan-refugees-iran-greece-sweden. 93  Javier Gil, Professor at Comillas University, personal communication, July 2016. 94  GRAHAM-HARRISON, Emma, et al. «Hajj pilgrimage: more than 700 dead in crush near Mecca», The Guardian, 2015. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/24/mecca-crush- during-hajj-kills-at-least-100-saudi-state-tv. 95  AL JAZEERA. «More than 700 killed in Saudi Hajj stampede», 2015. Available at: http://www. aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/pilgrims-killed-hajj-stampede-mina-mecca-150924082302232.html. http://revista.ieee.es

REVISTA IEEE 11
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