MESOPOTAMIA NEWS WEEKLY REPORT KURDISTAN / IRAN 

 

  • 1 July 2020 – The Iranian regime continued its crackdown on Kurdish political activity last week. Last Tuesday, Iranian authorities arrested a Kurdish activist from Dehgolan named Sirwan Rahimi. The Kurdistan Association for Human Rights (KMMK) claimed Rahimi had served a 13-month sentence for “cooperation with an opposition party” before his most recent arrest.
  • Meanwhile, Iranian security forces arrested an activist named Raza Sofiwand in Lorestan on Friday. Iranian authorities also arrested an American activist named Ashfeen Sheikhollah while he was visiting his parents on Friday in Sanandaj. Sheikhollah, who has a history of political and environmental activism, was previously released from jail five weeks ago. Also, in Sanandaj, Iranian authorities arrested a female environmental activist named Faranak Jamshedi on Sunday. Finally, an Islamic Revolution Court in Urmia sentenced a Kurd from Turkey named Sardar Ozmoushi to 18 years in prison for “membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.”
  • A statement from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) claimed their Peshmerga forces engaged in “heavy clashes” with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) near the Halgurd Mountains and that, “The Peshmerga unit defeated the Iranian forces and forced them to retreat from the area. The Peshmerga unit did not suffer any casualties.” That said, Ground Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (NEZA) Commander Brigadier General Mohammed Pakpour announced plans to attack Kurdish opposition forces near the Iran-Iraq border.
  • Iranian border guards killed three Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) and wounded three more in two separate ambushes near the Chaldiran District on Thursday and Friday. Several Kurdish human rights organizations published the names of the deceased, which were Qasim Sarbazi, Sajad Milan, and Shaker Broki. At the same time, Iranian authorities injured three Kolbars near Nowsud on Saturday.
  • Three Kurdish environmental activists lost their lives on Sunday near Paveh (Pawa), with initial reports claiming Mokhtar Khandani, Bilal Ameni, and Yassein Karimi were killed while trying to extinguish a wildfire. That said, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights claimed the three activists were killed by a land mine planted by the Iranian regime to target Kurdish rebels. Dozens of Paveh residents protested the three men’s deaths on Monday, while arson and wildfires continue to plague Iranian Kurdistan every summer.

 

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