Table of Contents

Country Reports

LM Report 2004

Iran

Key developments since May 2003: The development of a mine action program in Iran continues to progress. A Mine Action Portfolio Country Team for strategic planning has been established. Between March 2003 and August 2004, the Iranian Red Crescent Society with technical support from the ICRC organized mine risk education training courses in six frontier provinces. The Iranian recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi, has organized a Mine Clearing Collaboration Campaign to launch a new NGO to aid in demining and victim assistance.

Key developments since 1999: The UN Development Programme signed an agreement with Iran in July 2002 to implement a national mine action program. A National Committee for Demining was established. The Army carries out extensive mine clearance, but official statistics are not available. Despite an export moratorium announced in 1997, and government statements that production has ceased, antipersonnel mines of Iranian origin with date stamps indicating new production have been found in Afghanistan. The first known conference on the landmine problem in Iran was held in Tehran in February 2000, organized by the non-governmental High Center of Research and Informatics. There is renewed interest in the landmine issue, with increased attention by the government and the formation of NGOs to deal with the problem.

Mine Ban Policy

Iran has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. While Iran participated in the Ottawa Process leading to the treaty as an observer, it did not sign in 1997 and has since not attended any of the annual Meetings of States Parties or the intersessional meetings, with the sole exception of the May 2001 intersessional meeting. Iran has abstained from voting on every annual pro-mine ban UN General Assembly resolution since 1997, including UNGA Resolution 58/53 on 8 December 2003. It was absent from the first such vote in 1996.

In July 2003, the government stated that although it “welcome[s] every effort to stop this trend” of landmines taking innocent lives, “Landmines continue to be the sole effective means to ensure the minimum security requirement of borders in countries with long land borders.”^[1] It added that the mines are used “under strict established rules and regulation to protect the civilians.” At the Japan-Iran Consultation on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues on 27 January 2004, Iran reiterated that it agreed with the humanitarian considerations of the Mine Ban Treaty, but that security concerns prevent it from joining at this time.^[2]

Government representatives have told Landmine Monitor that if landmines are removed from the country’s borders, more Iranian soldiers will be killed while protecting the borders and drug trafficking will increase dramatically.^[3] They also state that the cost of Iran joining the Mine Ban Treaty would be “enormous” and many new technologies would not be available to Iran due to “dual use technology” limitations.^[4]

The Iranian recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi, has raised the landmine issue on a number of occasions, particularly as it relates to children’s safety.^[5] Ebadi stated that her “new dream is to clear Iran from land mines...to get rid of these mines to the very last one.”^[6] In 2003, Ebadi organized a Mine Clearing Collaboration Campaign to charter a new NGO to aid in demining and victim assistance. The NGO meets regularly to develop a plan to achieve its aims and its membership is open to those who agree with the principles of the NGO’s mine clearance collaboration campaign.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use

Iran is a manufacturer of antipersonnel mines, including the YM-I, Mk. 4, and a Claymore-type mine, but it is not known if production is ongoing or if it commences to meet specific requirements. On 6 September 2002, Iran provided an official statement by the Ministry of Defense to Landmine Monitor that stated, “The Islamic Republic of Iran, since the termination of its war [1988], has not produced anti-personnel mines.”^[7] At the same time, however, Landmine Monitor received information that mine clearance organizations in Afghanistan were removing and destroying many hundreds of Iranian YM-I and YM-I-B antipersonnel mines, date stamped 1999 and 2000, from abandoned Northern Alliance front lines.^[8]

Iran exported a significant number of antipersonnel mines in the past. An export moratorium was instituted in 1997, but it is not known if it is still formally in effect. States Parties Bangladesh and Gabon have declared stockpiling antipersonnel mines of Iranian origin; Gabon declared acquiring the mines in 1995.^[9] Iranian antipersonnel and antivehicle mines were part of a shipment seized by Israel in January 2002 off the coast of Gaza. In 1998, Human Rights Watch reported that Iranian Mk. 4 antipersonnel mines have been found in the Ugandan border region of Sudan.

The size and composition of Iran’s antipersonnel mine stockpile is not known, but it is believed to be substantial.

Iran is believed to maintain minefields along its borders with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.^[10] According to an October 2003 news report, policewomen in Iran were learning how to lay mines as part of their training.^[11]

Landmine Problem

The mined areas in western and southwestern Iran, particularly the provinces of Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Ilam, and Kurdistan, are the result of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq conflict. Government officials claim that Iraq planted some 12-16 million landmines in Iran during the war in an area of over four million hectares.^[12] Khuzestan is reportedly the most mined area, followed by Kermanshah and Ilam.^[13] The Army estimates that 1.5 million to 1.8 million hectares are still infested with Iraqi landmines.^[14]

According to Colonel Amir Mahmoudi, “We have divided the regions into secure and prohibited regions. Prohibited regions lie near the border with Iraq. Despite our announcements, sometimes nomads take their cattle to the prohibited regions for grazing and in certain cases their curiosity leads to explosion of mines. Smugglers who want to transit these regions also leave casualties. Greedy people who enter these regions to collect aluminum or iron remnants of the war are also included in the casualties.”^[15]

According to one report, the landmines have “severely limited” agricultural production in five provinces along the Iraqi border.^[16] Landmines are also located in the oil fields and in October 2002, media reported that one of the largest fields, the Azadegan oil structure, was waiting to be cleared so that Japanese companies could “start full-scale appraisals.”^[17]

There are also landmines in the eastern parts of Iran, particularly in the border areas with Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1995, Iranian Interior Minister Ali Mohammad Besharati reportedly stated, “To stop drug caravans from entering Iran, eastern borders will be mined.”^[18] According to a Pakistani source, discussing an incident that killed five people and injured 11, “The Iranian authorities laid landmines to keep the drug traffickers away.”^[19] Also, the internal war in the 1980s between the central government and opposition forces left many areas of the country contaminated with landmines, particularly in Kurdistan province.

Mine Clearance and Coordination

The Ministry of the Interior decides where mine clearance will take place, based on political, economic, and social priorities, while the Iranian Armed Forces, specifically the Army’s Engineer Units, are responsible for mine clearance projects. Fifteen Army battalions are involved in demining.^[20] No statistics on mine clearance achievements, priorities, or plans are made publicly available. In September 2003, media reported that the demining process has become more difficult as the Army units approach the Iraqi border.^[21]

According to an August 2002 news report, since the end of the war with Iraq in 1988, a total of 3,217,000 antipersonnel mines, 914,000 antivehicle mines and 4,236,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) had been cleared. ^[22] In the Khuzestan and Ilam provinces alone, 327,595 hectares of land were reportedly cleared, removing 970,000 antipersonnel mines, and 435,000 antivehicle mines.^[23]

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has provided technical advice on mine and UXO clearance and survey since 2000 for Norsk Hydro in a part of the province of Ilam that saw heavy fighting during the Iran-Iraq war.^[24] In June 2002, the number of NPA technical advisors was reduced from 14 to two when Hydro’s seismic operation ended, and the two advisors now form part of Hydro’s Health Safety Environment team, which provides mine/UXO risk advice, survey and small clearance tasks. Between 2001 and 2003, NPA cooperated with the Iranian Army, to clear a total of 42 million square meters of land through battle area clearance and approximately 700 kilometers of roads, used by Hydro as well as local nomads and the Iranian Army, in the border area between Musian and Mehran.^[25]

In 2003, two demining NGOs were formed by former military engineers with experience in mine clearance, but little is known of their activities.

On 25 July 2002, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Iranian government signed an agreement to implement a national mine action program. A National Committee for Demining was established within the Iranian Ministry of Interior to oversee the planning, coordination, and monitoring of mine action in Iran.^[26] A Mine Action Portfolio Country Team (MAPCT) has facilitated mine action strategic planning and served as a liaison among the UN actors, NGOs, national authorities, donors, and other stakeholders.^[27] Development has begun on the Iranian Mine Action Geographic Information System (IMAGIS) and the National Mine Action Standards.^[28]

In 2004, UNDP is seeking funding totaling $1,028,500 to “assist the National Committee for Demining (NCD) secretariat in implementing and managing coordinated and integrated mine action. In particular, the funding will be secured to provide technical/operational assistance and training to the NCD secretariat staff and implement emergency mine-action operations.”^[29] The UNDP also requested $495,000 to “build upon and complement mine-action initiatives being established within the NCD” that would have the following outcomes: “at least 30 trained and qualified national surveyors; publication of the landmine impact study (LIS) national report; and publication of a mine-action strategic plan based on the LIS results.”^[30]

In February 2004, a Japanese-led consortium signed a $2 billion deal to develop oil fields located near Ahwaz, a project that will involve clearing the large quantities of landmines placed there during the Iran-Iraq wars. The group agreed to finish clearing the minefields by February 2005.^[31]

In anticipation of an influx of predominantly Shiite refugees from Iraq in 2003, the Iranian Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Agency received $1 million to create 19 refugee camps in the southwestern border areas of Iran in cooperation with the United Nations. A portion of the funds was allocated for mine clearance.^[32]

From 1-8 December 2003, an eight-member Iranian state delegation visited the Mine Action Centre in Croatia to sign a declaration on cooperation in mine clearance.^[33] The Iranian delegates, led by the Deputy Interior Minister Ali Asghar Ahmadi and the head of the engineering department of the Defense and Armed Forces Ministry, Hosein Vaziri, agreed to exchange experience and technology with Croatia, and to cooperate with Croatia in mine risk education (MRE) and victim assistance.^[34]

Mine Risk Education

It was reported in September 2003 that the government has collaborated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on mine risk education programs for returnees from Afghanistan.^[35] For 2004, UNICEF has requested $110,000 to “increase the level of mine/UXO awareness among populations living in affected areas...and promote the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration of mine victims.”^[36] UNICEF has also requested funds to be administered in Iran to increase mine awareness for Afghan and Iraqi refugees.^[37]

Between March 2003 and August 2004, the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) with technical support from International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) organized mine risk education training courses in six frontier provinces, with the participation of more than 200 IRCS volunteers. After the training, volunteers were expected to perform needs assessments and conduct MRE in affected areas. Target groups include Afghan and Iraqi refugees, as well as Iranians traveling in Iraq for pilgrimage.^[38] During 2003, UNICEF and the IRCS organized two MRE workshops for approximately 50 IRCS volunteers in Kermanshah and Ahwaz, and developed materials for this purpose.^[39]

Since 2002, the Department of Behzisti (part of the newly established Department of Welfare) in Kurdistan province has provided mine risk education in some of the province’s schools. A booklet for elementary and middle schools entitled, “To Live Safely with Landmines” has been distributed to schoolchildren together with T-shirts and board games.

Iranian filmmakers made two movies in 2003 that included landmines: “At Five in the Afternoon,” which is set in Afghanistan, and “Marooned in Iraq.”

Landmine Casualties

In 2003, according to media reports, there were at least 66 landmine casualties in Iran, including 45 killed and 21 injured. There is no official data available on landmine casualties. Between 2001 and 2002, the media reported at least 223 landmine casualties in Iran: 32 casualties (11 killed and 21 injured) in 2002; and 191 (69 killed and 122 injured) in 2001, including 174 army deminers.^[40] Scores of shepherds and local residents living near the Iran/Iraq border are reportedly killed or injured by landmines every year.^[41]

Reported casualties in 2003 include an incident on 15 April which killed two children and injured another when a landmine exploded as the three grazed sheep near their village in Marivan, Kordestan province.^[42] Also in April, a police officer lost his leg to a mine in Sardasht in West Azerbaijan province, and in a separate incident a farmer was injured.^[43] In May, a 15-year-old boy lost his foot in a landmine incident in the western border city of Shahin Dezh.^[44]

Since the end of the Iraq war, many refugees from the first Gulf War (1991) and many Iranian Shiite Muslims have attempted to cross the heavily-mined border region to return home or to visit religious sites in Iraq. Other reported casualties in 2003 include an Iraqi refugee killed in July in a mine incident near the Iran-Iraq border.^[45] Three Iranian pilgrims killed and 17 injured in August when a landmine exploded as their group tried to cross the Iraq border at Sarkahr, in Mehran province.^[46] On 21 September, eight more pilgrims were killed when landmines exploded as they tried to cross into Iraq in Kermanshah province.^[47] On 29 October, nine people were killed in a landmine explosion in the border region of Dehloran in Ilam province.^[48] In December, a hospital official in Ilam province stated that landmines had killed 31 people in the past year.^[49]

In April 2003, in northern Iraq, a prominent Iranian photojournalist was killed by a landmine while covering the Iraq war for the BBC.^[50]

Casualties continue to be reported in 2004. In January, four people were killed and a fifth person injured in five separate landmine incidents in the western border region.^[51] On 22 March, a 14-year-old and a 21-year-old pilgrim were killed when a landmine exploded as they visited a battlefield of the Iran-Iraq war in southwestern Iran with a group called “Wayfarers of Light.”^[52] Also in March, three people were killed and another injured while grazing cattle near Sumar, in the western border region.^[53] In two separate mine incidents in April and May a 10 year-old child and two men were injured in Sardasht in the northwestern province of Azerbaijan.^[54]

There is no comprehensive information on the number of mine casualties in Iran; a survey in Ilam province in 2000 is the most in-depth study to date. Between 1989 and 1999, the survey recorded 1,082 mine casualties, including 394 people killed and 688 injured.^[55] No information is available on the total number of landmine casualties in other provinces. However, it was reported that 52 people had been killed and another 100 injured by landmines while searching in former war zones for those missing in action since the end of the war in 1988.^[56] According to a report released by the Institute of Intellectual Development for the Children and the Young Adult (IIDCYA), 300 people are killed each year in Iran as a result of stepping on landmines; 20 percent are children and young adults.^[57]

Survivor Assistance and Disability Policy and Practice

Little is known about survivor assistance programs in Iran. Military personnel injured by mines receive medical care, rehabilitation, prosthetics, and a pension from the army. Civilians injured by mines are referred to the relevant governor general department who then assigns them to a public or private department.

The Norwegian NGO, Trauma Care Foundation (TCF), has two training centers, in Tehran and in Ilam. At the request of the Ministry of Health in Tehran, TCF trains instructors who in turn train health personnel and villagers in both basic and advanced emergency medical care for mine casualties and other trauma injuries. More than 400 trauma care providers working at village level, in district clinics, and in regional trauma centers have been trained. Both healthcare/emergency officials and the local population have viewed the training positively.^[58]

The Iranian Red Crescent Society supports facilities for persons with disability across the country providing services such as physiotherapy and prosthetics. The IRCS has physical rehabilitation centers in 13 provinces, physiotherapy centers in 26 provinces, and medical centers in four provinces. The IRCS has also provided training in prosthetics and orthotics to Iranian students and others from Africa and Asia.^[59]

Other organizations providing assistance to persons with disabilities include the Iman Khomeini Aid Committee, the Social Security Organization and the Mostazafan and Janbazan Foundation (Foundation for the Deprived).^[60] The Mostazafan and Janbazan Foundation provides a variety of services to soldiers disabled during the Islamic Revolution and war with Iraq, including mine survivors. The Janbazan section provides many services for its members, including medical care, housing, employment opportunities, and advocacy on nondiscrimination laws and legislation.^[61]

All mine survivors, or the families of those killed, are entitled to monetary support from the government once the incident has been registered and confirmed. To qualify for benefits, incidents must be reported to the Province Governor’s Office for Social Welfare.^[62]

In Iran, issues relating to persons with disabilities are coordinated by the State High Council for Coordination of Disabled Persons Affairs (HCCDPA), which was established as part of the Agenda for Action for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons.^[63]

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[1] The Islamic Republic of Iran: Draft Resolution L.43 on “Ottawa Convention,” Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations, New York, 2 July 2003.
[2] See “Summary of Japan-Iran consultation on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation,” British Broadcasting Corporation (Tokyo), 1 February 2004.
[3] Interview with Reza Najafi, Counselor to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, New York, 2 July 2003; interview with Mr. Shakarian, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tehran, 6 January 2004.
[4] Ibid.
[5] “Shirin Ebadi Takes Pride in Dealing with Those Serving the Public,” Payvand’s Iran News, 26 November 2003.
[6] “Iran: Interview with Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi,” (interview by Azam Gorgin and Elahe Ravashad), Radio Free Europe, 13 December 2003.
[7] Letter from the Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations to Mary Wareham, Landmine Monitor Global Coordinator, 6 September 2002.
[8] Information provided to Landmine Monitor and ICBL by HALO Trust, Danish Demining Group and other demining groups operating in Afghanistan in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
[9] Bangladesh Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 28 August 2002; Gabon Article 7 Report, Form B, 25 September 2002. The antipersonnel mines declared by Bangladesh are M18A1 Claymore mines.
[10] Iranian officials stated that over 13,400 Iranian soldiers have been killed or injured defending the Pakistani and Afghani borders, and that even more would be killed if they removed the landmines. Interview with Reza Najafi, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2 July 2003; Interview with Mr. Shakarian, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 6 January 2004.
[11] Miranda Eeles, “Iran’s policewomen return to the beat,” BBC News (Tehran), 4 October 2003.
[12] One hectare equals 10,000 square meters, so this is the equivalent of 40 billion square meters or 40,000 square kilometers. “7,000 Hectares of Land Cleared from Iraqi Mines,” Islamic Republic News Agency (Khorramshahr), 25 March 2002. For a list of the mine types used by Iran and Iraq, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 1005.
[13] Ahmadian-Rad Hamideh, “80 Million Landmines Laid in Iran,” Persian Morning Daily, 17 April 2002.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] “UNDP to Support Mine Action Awareness Program in Iran,” Tehran Times, 25 July 2002.
[17] “International Oil Firms Eye Iran’s Azadegan,” Energy Compass, 31 October 2002; “Azadegan Holds Huge Oil Potential,” Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, 31 October 2002.
[18] “Iran to Mine Borders to Deter Drug Traffickers,” Reuters, 25 June 1995.
[19] “Five Suspected Drug Smugglers Killed by Mines at Pakistan-Iran Border,” Agence France-Presse (Quetta), 20 December 2002.
[20] “80 Million Landmines Laid in Iran,” Persian Morning Daily, 17 April 2002.
[21] “Eight People Killed in Landmine Blast in Iran’s Town of Qasr-e Shirin,” Payvand’s Iran News, 22 September 2003.
[22] “One Iranian Killed, Two Others Injured in Landmine Blast: Press,” Payvand’s Iran News, 16 August 2002.
[23] “52 Killed, 122 Injured While Defusing Iraqi Mines: Official,” Tehran Times, 17 April 2002.
[24] Email from Are Hauger, Advisor, NPA, 14 June 2004.
[25] Ibid.
[26] UNMAS, “Asia, Mine Action, and the United Nations: From Crisis and Conflict to Reconstruction and Development,” September 2003; Mine Action Support Group, “MASG Newsletter,” June 2003, Annex 5, pp. 21-22; “UNDP to Support Mine Action Awareness Program in Iran,” Tehran Times, 25 July 2002.
[27] MASG Newsletter, October 2003, p. 13.
[28] Ibid.
[29] “Support of the National Mine Action Program in the Islamic Republic of Iran 2004,” United Nations Mine Action Projects. Available at www.mineaction.org/un_mine_action/_projects.cfm?pro_ID=528 , accessed 18 July 2004.
[30] “Initial Landmine Impact Survey of Five Provinces in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2004,” United Nations Mine Action Projects.
[31] Paul Sampson, “Iran: Missed Opportunity,” Energy Compass, 8 July 2004.
[32] “Iranian Officials Wars of Human Tragedy,” Payvand’s Iran News, 20 March, 2003; “Iran’s Conditions for Hosting Refugees Have Not been Met Yet,” Payvand’s Iran News, 23 March, 2003.
[33] “Croatia, Iran To Co-operate in Mine Action,” Croatian News Digest (Croatia), 28 November 2003.
[34] “Croatia, Iran sign mine clearance cooperation declaration,” HINA (Zagreb), 5 December 2003.
[35] UNMAS, “Asia, Mine Action, and the United Nations: From Crisis and Conflict to Reconstruction and Development,” September 2003.
[36] “Support for Expanded Community-Based Mine Risk Education and Rehabilitation for Mine Victims in the Islamic Republic of Iran 2004,” United Nations Mine Action Projects.
[37] Emergency Mine Risk Education for Iraqi Refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran 2004,” United Nations Mine Action Projects.
[38] ICRC, “Iranian volunteers trained for mine awareness,” 16 August 2004.
[39] Email to Landmine Monitor (HI) from Azine Nouban, Assistant Programme Communication Officer, UNICEF Iran, 23 August 2004.
[40] For details see Landmine Monitor Report 2003, pp. 599-600; and Landmine Monitor Report 2002, pp. 670-671.
[41] “Three Killed, One Wounded in Mine Explosion at Iran Border,” Tehran Times, 12 April 2004.
[42] “Two children killed in mine explosion in Iranian Kurdish village,” IRNA (Tehran), 15 April 2003.
[43] “Police Officer Wounded by Landmine in Sardasth,” IranMania.com, 26 April 2003.
[44] “Teenager loses foot to land mine explosion in western Iran,” IRNA (Shahin Dezh), 11 May 2003.
[45] “UN to Limit Iraqi Refugee Repatriations from Iran,” IranMania.com, 10 July 2003.
[46] “Three Iranians killed, 17 wounded in land mine explosion on Iran-Iraq border,” Associated Press (Tehran), 19 August 2003; “Three Iranian Pilgrims Risking Illegal Entry to Iraq Lost Lives Hitting Mines,” Payvand’s Iran News, 19 August, 2003.
[47] “Landmines kill eight Iraq-bound Iranians,” Reuters (Tehran), 22 September 2003; “Eight People Killed in Landmine Blast in Iran’s Town of Qasr-e Shirin,” Payvand’s Iran News, 22 September 2003.
[48] “Nine Killed in Landmine Blast in Town of Dehloran in Iran,” Payvand’s Iran News, 29 September 2003.
[49] “Iranian Smugglers Fill Their Pockets on Shia Devotion,” The Guardian, 1 December 2003.
[50] “Renowned Iranian Photo-Jounalist Killed in Iraq’s Kurdistan,” Payvand’s Iran News, 3 April 2003.
[51] “Landmine Explosion Kills Four at Western Border,” Tehran Times, 20 January 2004.
[52] “Iran: Land-mine explosion kills two pilgrims near Iraqi border,” Fars News Agency (Tehran), 25 March 2004.
[53] “Three Killed, One Wounded in Mine Explosion at Iran Border,” Tehran Times, 12 April 2004.
[54] “Mine Blast Severely Injures Little Boy in Northwest Iran,” Payvand, 12 April 2004; and “Two Wounded in Mine Explosion in West Azerbaijan,” IRNA, 3 May 2004.
[55] For details on the Ilam survey, see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 930.
[56] Merhabadi, Meisam Rashidi, “Searching for 10,000 Martyrs Killed in Iraq,” Persian Morning Daily, 6 August 2002.
[57] “Mine Explosion Killing One Person Every 22 Second,” Tehran Times, 16 October 2003.
[58] Email from Odd Edvardsen, Tromsoe, Mine Victim Resource Center, 15 January 2003.
[59] Iranian Red Crescent Society website, www.rcs.ir/english/en_health.asp, accessed 9 June 2004; ICRC, “Annual Report 2001,” p. 319.
[60] United Nations, “Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons: mid-point – country perspectives,” Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, New York, 1999, p. 114.
[61] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 671.
[62] Hameed Reza Jahanlu, MD, Hans Husum, MD, and Torben Wisborg, MD, “Mortality in Land-Mine Accidents in Iran,” Journal of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Vol. 17, No. 2, April-June 2002, p. 108.
[63] United Nations, “Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons: mid-point – country perspectives,” Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, New York, 1999, p. 114.