Assassination Attempt on Iranian Kurdish Politician in Sweden
21/09/2012 RUDAW – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Hossein Yazdanpanah, deputy leader of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, claims that there have been several attempts on his life by Iranian agents.
“Since 1991, the Iranian government has tried to kill me more than 10 times,” he told Rudaw. While visiting friends in Europe last month, he made a stop in Sweden where there was a failed attempt to assassinate him. “It was early morning and I was still asleep,” Yazdanpanah said. “The telephone rang. A few minutes later, three men attempted to break into the house to kill me.”
When the phone rang, the housekeeper answered. Someone spoke Farsi, saying he was calling from Kurdistan and wanted to talk with Yazdanpanah. The housekeeper said there was no one there by that name, but a few minutes later someone knocked on the door.
“When we looked through the peephole, we saw three men wearing masks standing behind the door,” Yazdanpanah said. Although he couldn’t identify the men, one’s face was exposed and he had dark skin and hair. Yazdanpanah assumed that they were Lebanese and Somalis who received training in the Iranian camps in Syria.
The housekeeper called the police who arrived 40 minutes later. Fortunately, the house had a security system and the men were not able to get in. “After the men left, someone called the house again and threatened the housekeeper to open the door next time,” he said. Swedish police are investigating the incident, and Yazdanpanah has now returned to Kurdistan. The headquarters of the Kurdistan Freedom Party – an Iranian Kurdish political party – are in Erbil.