Exclusive | No news on Khalid Pirzadeh; informed source: he has not contacted his family yet

An informed source told Voice of America that seven days after the arrest of Khalid Pirzadeh, this constitutionalist political activist has not contacted his family and there is no news about him. Khalid Pirzadeh was transferred to an unknown location after being arrested at Ahvaz airport on Tuesday, September 19. An acquaintance of this constitutionalist political activist told Voice of America’s Persian section on Tuesday, October 4, that 'there is still no news after his arrest and he has not contacted his family.' According to this source close to Pirzadeh's family, this former political prisoner was arrested at '4:30 PM' last Tuesday, and then 'at 6 PM, his wife was summoned to the intelligence office and after a brief interrogation, she was released and is now at home.' According to the report, 'there is still no news about the agency that arrested Khalid and where he is being held.' The source close to Khalid Pirzadeh also told Voice of America that, 'except for the pain he felt in his left knee and the weakness he had while walking,' his condition was 'relatively good' and 'he was receiving treatment, and one of the main reasons' for Khalid's 'intention to travel to Turkey was this,' in addition to 'his intention to participate in bodybuilding competitions after recovery.' According to this informed source, 'the family's concern is very high,' especially for Khalid Pirzadeh's '12-year-old daughter' due to 'severe headaches, fever, chills, and nervous shock,' who has been 'hospitalized twice in the past few days.' Khalid (Kushan) Pirzadeh, a former bodybuilding champion of Iran, was arrested by government forces in June 2019. He was sentenced to seven years in prison by Branch 28 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by 'Mohammad Mogheiseh,' on charges of 'assembly and collusion' and 'insulting the leadership.' This athlete, who won third place in the 2018 (1399) competitions of the 'World Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation' in Singapore, went on hunger strikes several times during his imprisonment and sewed his eyelids shut in January 2022 in protest of his situation. This political prisoner was released in February 2023 while he was unable to walk and his physical condition was reported to be critical due to spinal cord injuries from broken vertebrae and anxiety disorders. After that, he regained a significant part of his health through continuous medical services. Khalid Pirzadeh, along with several other political and civil activists, including Yashar Tabrizi, Mehdi Maskinnavaz, and Mohammad Soltani, who are currently in detention, introduced the constitutional law as a basis for achieving an efficient secular democratic political system in Iran in a New Year message at the beginning of 1402.