Jan. 7 – A cross-party committee in the UK condemned the artillery shelling of several areas in Iran’s Baluchistan province by government forces, in a statement this week.
The province is home to the Baluch Sunni Muslim minority group which has been systematically targeted and discriminated against by the Shia Muslim government in Iran.
The committee published the statement after receiving reports of Iranian officials firing on residents living in the most deprived areas of the province including Korin, Saadabad, Shuro and Zahedan.
A video posted by the seven-year-old daughter of political prisoner Khaled Pirzadeh calling for her father’s release went viral on Twitter following growing concerns about her father’s wellbeing. Pirzadeh has diabetes and has not been heard from in several days.
Setayesh Pirzadeh asked human rights organizations and Iranians on Twitter to support her father, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison in 2019 for “offensive statements against the supreme leader of Iran” and “assembly and collusion against the regime.”
The Olympic body builder sewed one of his eyelids shut on Dec. 30 in protest for not being granted furlough by Iran’s prison officials.
And the head of Iran’s wrestling federation said the country’s wrestlers always chanted “death to America” and that it was also important to show it “in action.”
Alireza Dabir made the comments during a television interview ahead of a wrestling match between the national teams of the US and Iran taking place in Texas.
Responding to the comments on Twitter, Iranian-American athlete Sardar Pashaei questioned the approval of Dabir’s green card, which allows him to travel to the US.
