The name Omid means “Hope” in Farsi, and Omid Safarzehi was a 17-year-old Baloch boy from Zahedan that was full of hope.
He was his family’s breadwinner. He was a child who’d been deprived of his precious childhood because of the Islamic Republic’s systematic exploitation and oppression of the Balochi people. Government officials even denied him of his right to a birth certificate. At the age of 13, he had no choice but to leave school in order take up work at a brick factory and financially support his family. But Omid’s passion for life and hopefulness were so strong that even in the toughest conditions you could see his perseverance and a shine in his tired eyes.
On September 30, 2022, which has come to be known as “Bloody Friday”, the people of Zahedan held demonstrations to voice their outrage towards a high-ranking officer in the police who raped a 15-year-old girl. Many gathered after Friday prayers in a peaceful demonstration demanding justice for that little girl. Omid was also there in solidarity, as were many other children. Moments before the end of the prayers, the Islamic Republic security forces stormed the mosque and opened fire on unarmed civilians. The massacre resulted in at least 96 people dead and over 300 that were severely injured. At least 13 of those killed were children, Omid being one of them. The security forces shot Omid in the head and neck, killing him and all the hopes and dreams that shined in his eyes.
Main sources:
The wikipedia article used for the number of people killed in the massacre
Tweets that used to draft Omid’s story