Man Sets Himself on Fire to Protest Court Verdict in Iran

Illustrative: A prisoner being held in an Iranian prison. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
Illustrative: A prisoner being held in an Iranian prison. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
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Man Sets Himself on Fire to Protest Court Verdict in Iran

Illustrative: A prisoner being held in an Iranian prison. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
Illustrative: A prisoner being held in an Iranian prison. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

A 65-year-old man has died after he set himself on fire in central province of Markazi when a court issued a verdict against him in dispute with his employer.

YJC.ir, a news website affiliated to the Iran’s state TV, is reporting that the man set himself on fire in front of labor and social welfare building in Arak city, 230 kilometers (some 140 miles) southwest of the capital of Tehran.

Earlier inside the building, a court issued a verdict against him.

The report said he died after self-immolating, The Associated Press reported.

The act recalls the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, the street seller whose suicide by fire on December 17, 2010 launched Tunisia's revolution which in turn sparked the Arab Spring that toppled several autocratic leaders in the region.

Earlier in October, a 38-year-old man, Ruhollah Parazideh, father of four, set himself on fire over his unemployment and died in a hospital after two days in a hospital because of heavy damages. It led to dismissal of two local officials in Shahid Foundation that looks after matters of families of war victims.



Student Detained in Slovakia after 2 People Fatally Stabbed at High School

Police officers keep watch near a school following a knife attack in the town of Spisska Stara Ves, Slovakia, January 16, 2025. Adriana Hudecova/TASR via REUTERS
Police officers keep watch near a school following a knife attack in the town of Spisska Stara Ves, Slovakia, January 16, 2025. Adriana Hudecova/TASR via REUTERS
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Student Detained in Slovakia after 2 People Fatally Stabbed at High School

Police officers keep watch near a school following a knife attack in the town of Spisska Stara Ves, Slovakia, January 16, 2025. Adriana Hudecova/TASR via REUTERS
Police officers keep watch near a school following a knife attack in the town of Spisska Stara Ves, Slovakia, January 16, 2025. Adriana Hudecova/TASR via REUTERS

An 18-year-old student fatally stabbed two people at a high school in northern Slovakia on Thursday, authorities said.
One other person was in critical condition, the Slovak rescue service said. The stabbings took place in Spisska Stara Ves, a small town on the border with Poland that has a population of over 2,000 people.
The suspect initially fled, but police said that he was detained shortly after the attack.
Police said that the suspect attacked a teacher and two students. Further details weren't immediately available.
A 51-year-old deputy principal of the high school and a 18-year old student, both female, were killed, The Associated Press quoted the rescue service as saying.
President Peter Pellegrini called the attack “a real tragedy” and offered condolences along with Prime Minister Robert Fico to the relatives.
“No problem in the world can be solved with a knife or any other weapon,” Pellegrini said.
Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok and Education Minister Tomáš Drucker traveled to the town.
Drucker said that he would work to take steps to prevent such attacks in the future and protect students and teachers.
Such attacks are rare in Slovakia. In 2020, a 22-year-old former student attacked a high school in the town of Vrutky, killing the deputy principal and wounding five people, including two students. In 2022, a high school student attacked and injured a female pupil at a high school in Novaky.