UN experts urge Iran to end escalating targeting of ethnic minoritiesGENEVA – UN experts* today called on Iranian authorities to end the escalating arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary executions of ethnic minorities, particularly Kurdish and Baluch minorities. “Iran’s ethnic minorities must be able to live in safety and dignity, free from discrimination,” the experts said. These form part of a broader pattern of systematic repression of Iran’s Kurdish and Baluch minorities, including the earlier death sentences imposed on Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi. The experts also noted reports of increased arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of other ethnic minorities, including the Azeri community, among them minors. “The targeting of Kurdish and Baluch minorities extends beyond the country’s borders and includes campaigns of threats and surveillance against individuals living abroad as forms of transnational repression,” said the experts.