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Three-minute read
A 20-year-old student from Ahvaz set himself on fire after municipal crews moved to demolish his family’s kiosk. He now lies in intensive care with extensive burns as security forces cordon the hospital and prosecutors warn the public against “exploiting” the case. Days later, reports say a government employee in Lorestan, Kourosh Kheiri, died after a similar act. Two tragedies, one pattern: livelihoods under pressure, force trumping due process, and a state more focused on containing anger than confronting cause.
From demolition to despair in Ahvaz
On November 2, 2025, municipal enforcement officers in Ahvaz’s Zeytun Park began tearing down the Baledi family’s kiosk. Rights groups reports the operation went ahead without the owner present, while the student, Ahmad Baledi, and his mother stayed inside in protest. Witnesses cited by Karun describe rough handling of the mother before she was thrown out; moments later, Ahmad self-immolated and was rushed to Talaghani Hospital with about 70% burns.
His father, Mojahed Baledi, says he begged the officers to stop. He alleges one municipal agent mocked his son’s threat—“Burn, let’s see how you burn”—as the demolition continued. He describes the kiosk as the family’s only income after 21 years, supporting six children, two at university.
By November 6, relatives and residents gathered outside the hospital, meeting the provincial governor and demanding the dismissal and prosecution of city officials involved.
Honoring the memory of Kourosh Kheiri, a Department of Education driver from Lorestan, who set himself on fire in protest against the mullahs’ oppression.
Along with Ahmad Baldi, he stands as a symbol of the Iranian people’s defiance against the ruling religious fascism — a…
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) November 8, 2025
Prosecutor’s warning and arrests
As solidarity grew, the Khuzestan Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement vowing to act “decisively, without leniency” against anyone who might use the incident to “incite ethnic sentiment” or “disturb public order.” Authorities promised a “precise, comprehensive” review. The timing—and the tactics visible at the hospital—made the priority plain: containment first.
That message was reinforced by arrests. At least three Arab Ahvazi media and civil activists—Hassan Salamat, Javad Saedi, and Sadegh Al-Boushoukeh—were detained over coverage of the case, according to independent reports. Other accounts suggest the number could be higher. Meanwhile, officials restricted contact with the family, tightening the cordon around Talaghani.
The state’s posture—warning the public while ring-fencing a burn ward—telegraphs its fear of a wider reaction in Khuzestan, a province with a long memory of grievance and crackdowns. The promise of an inquiry sits uneasily beside the arrests.
#Iran: Death of a Contractor Due to Self-Immolation. https://t.co/9OSbC56iaO pic.twitter.com/Ps3834CT8O
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) August 16, 2017
A second case and a wider pattern
Reports from November 7 say Kourosh Kheiri, a driver with Lorestan’s Education Department, died roughly two weeks after self-immolating amid economic and psychological pressures. His case was cited alongside Ahmad’s by outlets noting prior examples of self-harm among workers facing layoffs, unpaid wages, or enforcement actions.
These are not isolated pathologies. For years, rights groups and local media have recorded numerous instances of self-immolation and suicide tied to livelihood shocks—details your batch references without listing every case. The common thread is desperation meeting officials whose first instinct is force or denial.
In Ahvaz, relatives and neighbors asked for simple accountability: publish the demolition order, explain the legal basis, suspend those involved, and pursue charges where warranted. The official answer so far has been a public-order warning and an information squeeze.
#Iran: The Shocking Narrative of Self-Immolation of Municipality Worker
Zamel Azarbaijan, a worker who died of self-immolation as he was protesting in front of Abadan’s municipality building, died Sunday, May 26, 2018 at the hospital. https://t.co/14dZH6s4qh #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/O4x2gbJqLc
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 2, 2018
Earlier echoes and what they reveal
The lesson is blunt: when institutions fail to resolve grievances, people take catastrophic steps that authorities cannot police away.
In Lorestan, the reported death of Kourosh Kheiri after two weeks in agony underscores the stakes beyond Khuzestan. Different province, same fuel: financial pressure, official indifference, and a public sphere where information is managed before responsibility is assigned.
This is why the Ahvaz hospital mattered. The cordon, the arrests, the prosecutor’s threat—each was a bet that fear can outrun grief. It rarely does for long.
#IRAN: People protest mounts against fuel price hike,motorcycle driver commits self-immolation http://t.co/l8uRTniISc pic.twitter.com/AulwUqkfnD
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 27, 2015
No accountability, rising fury
There is no credible path to accountability here. “Comprehensive inquiries” arrive with arrests, hospitals are ring-fenced by security, and demolition orders stay hidden. The machinery isn’t built to find facts—it’s built to contain them.
Each case becomes a local rallying point that outlasts the headlines. In Ahvaz and Lorestan, grief is turning into shared memory, a shorthand for how power treats the poor. The more sympathy is criminalized, the larger the circle of people who take it personally.
No one can script the spark, but the conditions are plain. Tunisia’s Mohamed Bouazizi wasn’t “inevitable” until he was; Iran is stacking similar tinder—precarious lives, blunt enforcement, failed cover-ups in the age of phones. If a name like Ahmad Baledi or Kourosh Kheiri becomes that shorthand, the fuse will be lit by lived experience—and the state’s own fear suggests it knows it.