Qazi – surgery in recent years due to heart illness.

Qazi Muhammad was an Iranian Kurdish leader who founded the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan KDP-I and led the Soviet-backed Republic of Mahabad for a brief period.

Qazi Muhammad declared autonomy for the Kurdish state of the Republic of Mahabad on January 22, 1946. He was hanged by the Pahlavi dynasty for treason in 1947. Ali was only 13 years old when his father was executed. Later he fled to Germany and spend most of his live their.

Qazi’s only son Ali was the leader of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), a pro-Barzani armed Kurdish organization based in the Barzani-ruling Iraqi Kurdistan region but reportedly originated from Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat). Due to an illness, he was forced to resign as leader.

In 1990, one of Qazi Muhammad’s daughters, Efat Ghazi, was killed with a letter bomb in Västers, Sweden. The bomb was addressed to her husband, the Kurdish activist Emir Ghazi. Some observers speculated that the assassination was carried out by the Iranian government.