THE KILLER CANDIDATE ! : Islamic Movement Candidate in Kurdistan Elections Accused of Shady Past
By RUDAW – 23.8.2013 – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A candidate of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) in the Kurdistan Region’s November parliamentary elections stands accused by the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) of handing over seven of its Peshmargas to the Iranian government in 1996. Six of the KDPI fighters were executed by Iran shortly after their handover, but the sole survivor says that IMK candidate Anwar Anabi was the man who handed over the fighters to Iranian authorities.
“As the KDPI party leadership was based in the Kurdistan Region at that time, Peshmargas were regularly sent back to Iranian Kurdistan to conduct the party’s mission and operations,” said Dariush Islamdost, the survivor. “One day, on our way back to Sulaimani, we were stopped at a checkpoint in Anab village. The chief of the checkpoint was someone called Anwar Anabi,” he told Rudaw. “We spent the night in a school in Anab. In the morning, the IMK forces tied our hands and knocked us out. When we regained consciousness we were at the Iranian agency office in Pawa,” Islamdost recalled.
IMK spokesman Shwan Qaladizayee denies the story.
“There is no evidence to support such an accusation. We have always asked the KDPI to show us evidence, or to use it in a court against us,” he said.
“We don’t deny our relations with the Iranian government at that time but it was not at the expense of any Kurdish parties,” he added.
However, the KDPI and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) – two wings of the group — consistently hold the IMK responsible for the death of the Peshmargas.In 2004, the Iranian ambassador in London, responding to a British parliamentary report, said that the six were killed in a battle with IMK forces in the Hawraman area. Rabia Rahimi, the widow of one of the dead fighters, told Rudaw that their case will remain alive, and that their relatives will spare no effort for justice. She said the families believe that politics are involved in the case, and that they are waiting to take legal action at the appropriate time.