UN rapporteur warns of escalating Iran abuses ahead of protests

Belgian Parliament member Darya Safai said on Thursday of plans to sue the Islamic Republic in international courts for the recent massacre of protesters.

In a video interview with Iran International, Safai called Iranians abroad an "exiled army" striking against the regime alongside those inside Iran until it collapses.

"We are all soldiers of the homeland and will take back our Iran," Safai said.

During state-organized rallies marking Iran’s 1979 revolution anniversary on Wednesday, demonstrators in several cities burned large statues of a horned, bull-headed figure identified by organizers as “Baal,” an ancient deity referenced in biblical and Islamic tradition.

A mourning ceremony was held for Amirhossein Safari, 26, who was shot by security forces on January 9 during protests in Tehran’s Yaftabad neighborhood. Safari, a mechanic, died in the arms of a relative after being shot.

The United States has condemned Iran over the reported imminent execution of two detainees prosecuted over their religious beliefs, calling for their immediate release.

“Two individuals are being scapegoated in Iran because of their faith and face imminent execution,” the US Mission to the United Nations said in a post on X.

The mission denounced what it described as Iran’s violations of religious freedom and called on Tehran to release Peyvand Naimi and Venus Hoseininejad, along with others it said were unjustly detained.

President Trump’s backing of Iranian protesters has revived debate in Washington over how far the US should go. As some advisers warn against another Iraq- or Afghanistan-style intervention, one can point to the 1991 Iraqi uprising as a cautionary lesson.

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