Hezbollah Joins Iran's Effort To Sow Doubt In Mahsa Amini's Death

Local Belgian media reported on Tuesday that a Brussels court ruled that Asadi may be extradited to Iran, thereby paving the way for a fiercely criticized prisoner exchange. The exchange would allow Asadi to be swapped with Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandeecasteele, who has been held in Iran since February, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

The temporary ban on the extradition of the convicted diplomat was announced by the Brussels Court of Appeal late in July following numerous complaints after the Belgian Parliament ratified a controversial prisoner swap treaty with Iran on July 20.

The Iranian exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) mounted a fierce campaign against the deal, challenging the possible extradition."The court has now declared the plaintiffs' question unfounded," said lawyer Khloë Georgiev, who represents Vandecasteele.

In June, Belgian MPs ratified a deal to allow the exchange. At the time, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo argued that it was the only way to get Vandeesteele back home safely. Recently appointed Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib stresses that all diplomatic channels have been exhausted.

Assadi is imprisoned for “attempted murder and involvement in terrorism” for his role in plotting to bomb a gathering of the MEK near Paris in 2018.

Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based rights organization, said Tuesday that at least 154 protesters, including nine children have been killed by security forces during the recent protests. Very little is known about most of the victims as families are pressured to stay silent if they want the bodies of their loved ones to be handed over to them.

On Monday security forces stole the body of a teen victim, Nika Shakarami, from the morgue while her family were waiting at a cemetery in her late father’s hometown of Khorramabad for the body to arrive. They buried the young girl in a village about forty kilometers away, supposedly to prevent her funeral from turning into protests.

Thousands have shared photos and a video showing the 16-year-old Nika, shyly but playfully singing a song into a microphone. Nika was studying art in college and training to become a barista.

Nika was last heard from when she called a friend from the protests on September 20 saying she was being chased by security forces during a protest in Tehran against the killing of Mahsa Amini -- a 22-year-old girl killed in police custody earlier that week.

Nika’s body was found in a morgue at Kahrizak detention center ten days later. Authorities said she died “falling from a height” but refused to allow her mother and relatives see anything other than her face in the morgue. Her aunt said later that her nose and skull were smashed, apparently by multiple blows to her head.

Authorities later arrested Nika’s aunt and uncle after they publicized her death. Sources close to the family say the security forces are pressuring the family to say Nika had not been in the protests to reduce her killing to an unrelated murder case.

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)-linked Tasnim news agency published a report of the alleged murder of the young girl Tuesday blaming it on people outside the protests.

Tasnim claimed that Nika went to a commercial building kilometers away from the protests where her body was found, although her body was found at a detention center, and suggested that she may have been killed by workers who were resting in the building’s parking.

Eight of the workers have been arrested, Tasnim said, and the case has been referred to a prosecutor for investigation. Many expect the state broadcaster to show someone making a forced confess admitting to the young girl’s murder or blame it on people from among the protesters.

A video has been circulating on social media of the mother of 18-year-old Parsa Rezapour, sitting and wailing on a sidewalk in Karaj where her son was shot dead. “My child was killed for the sake of freedom … My child was martyred,” she cries.

In a video posted on social media the mother of 23-year-old Hadis Najafi, also shot dead in Karaj, has come forward saying she was shot in the heart, abdomen, and neck. “Her whole body and face showed shotgun wounds,” she says adding authorities hid her death from them and refused to hand her body over to them. Before leaving for the protest she posted a video of herself saying she was taking part because she wanted to remember these day years later “when everything will be different”.

Chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic, the protesters gathered in front of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa on Tuesday, the thousandth day since IRGC shot down the plane over Tehran and killed all passengers and crewmembers onboard.

The spokesperson of the association of victims’ families, Canada-based activist Hamed Esmaeilion, whose daughter and wife were killed in the tragic event, called for the expulsion of all the agents and officials affiliated with the Islamic Republic as well as their family members who have immigrated to Canada.

Criticizing the Canadian government, Esmaeilion said the regime's politicians, military and security personnel and their families have turned Canada into a "safe haven" for themselves and should be "deported without delay."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also issued a statement on the occasion, saying,“One thousand days ago today, the Iranian regime unlawfully and horrifically shot down passenger Flight PS752, cutting short the lives of the 176 innocent people on board,” adding, “Canada and its Coordination Group partners are committed to holding Iran accountable, in accordance with international law.”

In a joint statement for the occasion, the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom said, “We renew our demand that Iran fulfills its international legal obligations and ensures transparency and justice for its actions.”

The airliner was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the IRGC as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing 63 Canadians.

Jared Genser posted a photo of Namazi in a plane before leaving Iran for Oman. “He will arrive in Muscat, Oman, and then will travel on to Abu Dhabi for urgent medical treatment,” he said.

The United States said Sunday that reports from Iranian sources of a transfer of funds related to the release of Bagher (Baquer) Namazi and to a furlough for his son Siamak Namazi are categorically false.

According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi appreciated Iran's move to allow Namazi to leave the country during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday.

In response to an inquiry by Iran International, a US State Department spokesperson said that "Any claim that Iran's lifting of a travel ban on Baquer Namazi was part of a deal for a transfer of frozen funds is categorically false,” adding that “We understand that the lifting of the travel ban and his son’s furlough were related to his medical requirement.”

Tehran had claimed that it will receive $7 billion of its frozen funds for a prisoner exchange deal with the United States, but it did not specifically claim that the money is related to the Namazis.

United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced about Namazis in a statement on Saturday, but the Islamic Republic periodically announces that release of its frozen funds is imminent to prop up its currency.

The quake's epicentre was close to the town of Khoy in the province of West Azerbaijan. Khoy Medical Emergency Service was quoted as saying that "276 people have been injured so far, including 68 who were hospitalised for minor fractures."

The quake was about 11.6 km (7.2 miles) from Khowy and at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), the United States Geological Survey said.

The quake hit at 3:51 local time and was followed by several aftershocks according to Iran seismological center. A local official sadi that the the aftershocks have prevented people from returning to their homes.

The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) earlier said that the quake was magnitude 5.5 and close to the Armenia-Azerbaijan-Iran border region.