Hasan Ark, a prominent South Azerbaijani ethnic rights advocate was arrested along with his teenage daughter, Solmaz Ark. It is not the first time that Iranian Spy Agency, Ettelaat is arbitrarily detaining an ethnic minority rights advocate along with his family members.

Mr. Ark is believed to have been detained due to his attendance in a peaceful gathering concerning extinction of the Lake Urmia.   Mr. Ark, and  his daughter, Solmaz were arrested along with other unidentified activists in Tabriz, South Azerbaijan.

Iran’s Spy Agency has released  Solmaz after initial interrogation on a cognizant  which means Ettelaat may have planned to prosecute Miss. Ark in the future or utilize her case as an instrument of pressure to silence her father.

Lake Urmia on the verge of extinction

It is believed that Hasan Ark and other activists are held in solitary confinements of of Ettelaat in Tabriz, and it is feared that the activist are  being subjected to mistreatment or torture. According to media reports, many other activists including a South
Azerbaijani singer Abbas Nikravan are also arrested.

South Azerbaijanis have recently announced to hold peaceful demonstrations in Tabriz, Urmia and other cities of South Azerbaijan in order to draw attention to the environmental disaster in the region as once the world’s largest salt lake, the Lake Urmia is on the verge of full extinction.

The subsequent salt tsunamis are expected to convert S. Azerbaijan to an inhabitable desert and  put millions of South Azerbaijanis at risk  and force them to immigrate to other parts of Iran.

The lake is believed to have  dried up due to partition of the lake by the imprudent construction of a bridge on the lake a decade ago and also the government’s foolish or deliberate irrigation  “projects” involving   construction of a hundred dams which have fully  diverted the water flow  away from the Lake Urmia.  Many also believe that the lake is a victim of the regime’s nuclear activities as the lake’s  uranium-enriched salt is deliberately extracted  to  fulfill  the regime’s nuclear ambitions.