Iran's sprawling southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province is notorious for insecurity, poverty, drug trafficking, and deadly clashes between security forces and militants.
More recently, however, it made headlines this month for sweeping a record number of women onto city and village councils.
Officials say the number of women elected to local councils in the Sunni-majority province, which shares borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, more than doubled.
"Four hundred and fifteen women have been elected to the city councils in the province," Governor Ali Osat Hashemi was quoted by Iranian media as saying on May 23, up from just 185.
