Afghans in Iran to be repatriated by 2004

Ahmad Husseini, the Iranian Interior Ministry official responsible for refugees, said on 27 January that 500,000 out of the 2.4 million Afghan refugees in Iran have left and the rest of them will return to Afghanistan in the next two years, Iranian state radio's Zahedan-based Pashtu service reported. After what Husseini referred to as the "voluntary repatriation" of the Afghans living in Iran, the only Afghans remaining in Iran would be the ones to whom the Interior Ministry grants temporary residency permits. Husseini added that Afghans in Iran who are working without work permits will be detained and deported. BS