http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/02102014
ERBIL,— A Kurdish rebel group’s battles with Iran is drawing a mixed response from other opposition groups that have pledged to lay down their arms against the Islamic Republic.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI’s) fights with the Iranian military in Iran last month marked the first clashes between the two in years. Several Iranian Kurdish rebel groups including KDPI are based in South Kurdistan, but most agreed to respect the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) demand that they not carry out armed operations against the Islamic Republic.
KDPI, however, has claimed responsibility for the recent battles just over the border in Iran and announced that they are deploying their fighters to Iran for “political activities,” apparently in defiance of the KRG’s stance.
The fighting, which began in mid-September, has mostly occurred outside of the Kurdish Iranian cities of Sardasht and Piranshahr and has killed at least five Iranian soldiers and several Kurdish rebels. An Iranian army commander and a KDPI fighter were killed and several others wounded last week in a clash in Shino.
Despite the concerns of the KRG, which has allowed KDPI and other Iranian Kurdish opposition groups to use the region as a base for decades, KDPI senior official Omer Balaki announced the group will not retreat from the Iranian Kurdistan.
He said KDPI’s fighters “have been inside Iranian Kurdistan and they are conducting political activities. It is very normal that the Iranian government won’t stand for this. We will continue our path,” Balaki added.
In a sign of increased tensions with the KRG, KDPI officials have recently refused to meet with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) which runs security along the Iraqi side of the border in the north.
Officials from Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which has strained relations with Iran but brokered a major peace deal between the Islamic Republic and Kurdish rebels in 2011, have refused to comment the uptick in fighting.
Other Iranian Kurdish opposition groups are split on the KDPI’s new armed campaign against Iran.
Karim Karimi, a senior official with the Kurdistan Tailors’ Movement, said his group is ready to fight.
“We will support any Kurdish political parties that fight the Islamic Republic,” he said.
Last year, KDPI fighters called for attacking Iran but the party’s leadership rejected the proposal.
The Kurdistan Revolutionary Tailors’ Movement, another Iranian Kurdish opposition group, supports civil resistance against the Islamic Republic but is not speaking out against KDPI.
Senior leader Anwar Mohammadi said, “Each party will decide for itself on its form of struggle.”
The Kurdistan Freedom Party, which has fought along with Peshmerga against Islamic State militants in the South Kurdistan, believes that thewww.Ekurd.net current environment is “not appropriate” for armed activities and such activities would damage the interests of the South Kurdistan, said Rizgar Abaszade, a member of the party’s leadership.
Haji Jundi, a prominent KDPI commander currently based in Germany, said the time is right for armed struggle but the parties don’t have enough experienced fighters. He said he expects the fighters could suffer losses in the early stages but will gradually gain experience.
Kamil Nuranifard, a member of the Kurdistan Struggle Agency leadership committee, told Rudaw, “We support any armed activities against the Islamic Republic.”
As to whether the Kurdistan Struggle Agency is willing to fight Iran, Nuranifard said, “Why not? If we have a good opportunity we will resume armed struggle.”
jueves, 9 de octubre de 2014
They Did Not Ask "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"
At present, the East Kurdish Parties (PDKI, Komala, PJAK, and others) have all risen to the call to help defend the people of South Kurdistan against ISIS. What Kenny Young says here can well be said of all the groups from all the regions of Kurdistan who have joined the war effort. Kurds have also been at the forefront in rescuing and organizing defense for Christians, Yezitis, Assyrians, and all the other minorities who were otherwise defenseless.
(From the PDKI website.)
The PDKI didn’t ask “am I my brother’s keeper?”
by PDKI | on August 14, 2014 | in Articles | Like it
By Kenny Young
On paper, our sister party in Iranian Kurdistan – the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) is similar to the Labour Party. The PDKI was founded with “an explicit commitment to democracy, liberty, social justice and gender equality”. They share the values we prize in a region whose regimes are often lacking in all of the above. When you look for bastions of democracy and progress in the Middle East, our comrades in the PDKI are a good place to start. But that’s a longer article for a gentler time.
Over the past few weeks, thousands of Kurds have joined the PDKI’s Peshmerga units and have marched south to face Islamic State (IS) fanatics in towns and villages across northern Iraq/southern Kurdistan. Veterans from Kurdistan’s wars against the Iranian regime’s repression; new recruits; women fighters as well as men, have all put aside old factional disputes with other groups to stand alongside the Kurdish Regional Government’s forces against an enemy universally agreed to be cruel and murderous.
The Islamic State was made to look unstoppable, because the Iraqi army melted away in the face of a group that has made terror and extreme, almost maniacal, violence its trademark. After liberating a village from IS control in Gewar, one PDKI Peshmerga is reported as saying “we do not fear these terrorists”. Perhaps one side-effect from standing almost alone against Iranian regime oppression is that it has bred a particularly hardy volunteer force, dedicated to tolerance and the idea of a safe, secure Kurdistan.
After gaining air support, Peshmerga forces have proven an effective bulwark against the fanatical hatred of this misnamed “Islamic State”, but it is still extremely early days. PDKI statements say they have liberated several villages and handed IS prisoners over to the Government. Following this success, it now looks as though PDKI units will be used as reserve forces, standing behind Kurdish Regional Government troops – on alert but back from the frontline for now.
It remains to be seen what further contribution the Socialist International’s comrades in Iranian Kurdistan will make during this crisis, but I was able to speak to my friend Loghman Ahmedi, the PDKI’s Head of International Relations, over the past few days. He was clear that IS forces pose a threat to Kurdistan as a whole, but also that:
“It is our duty to both protect the defenceless civilians in the region against this brutal organisation and to preserve the democratic and progressive government in Iraqi Kurdistan.”
So it’s a war of necessary survival, but it’s also about standing against crimes that – in principle – we assume are beyond the pale: beheadings; forced starvation; torture; rape and genocide. They are only beyond the pale if someone will stop them.
Chronicles of our time will mark the killings in Rwanda and the atrocities of Srebrenica as events that happened because nobody would step in. It remains to be seen what will happen in Kurdistan and Iraq. We do not yet know if the torture inflicted on the Yazidi will end in a completed genocide, but what we do know is that the men and women of the PDKI didn’t ask “am I my brother’s keeper?”.
They marched to the front line – some reports say with 60 bullets each – not because it was expedient, nor because they share a faith with all of those being victimised, but because they were in a position to do something and they wouldn’t stand by.
As the crisis continues, the world must give them – and the other Kurdish forces they fight alongside – the support they need to continue protecting civilians from IS forces.
Kenny Young previously worked as press officer for Gordon Brown and Ed Milliband of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom
(From the PDKI website.)
The PDKI didn’t ask “am I my brother’s keeper?”
by PDKI | on August 14, 2014 | in Articles | Like it
By Kenny Young
On paper, our sister party in Iranian Kurdistan – the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) is similar to the Labour Party. The PDKI was founded with “an explicit commitment to democracy, liberty, social justice and gender equality”. They share the values we prize in a region whose regimes are often lacking in all of the above. When you look for bastions of democracy and progress in the Middle East, our comrades in the PDKI are a good place to start. But that’s a longer article for a gentler time.
Over the past few weeks, thousands of Kurds have joined the PDKI’s Peshmerga units and have marched south to face Islamic State (IS) fanatics in towns and villages across northern Iraq/southern Kurdistan. Veterans from Kurdistan’s wars against the Iranian regime’s repression; new recruits; women fighters as well as men, have all put aside old factional disputes with other groups to stand alongside the Kurdish Regional Government’s forces against an enemy universally agreed to be cruel and murderous.
The Islamic State was made to look unstoppable, because the Iraqi army melted away in the face of a group that has made terror and extreme, almost maniacal, violence its trademark. After liberating a village from IS control in Gewar, one PDKI Peshmerga is reported as saying “we do not fear these terrorists”. Perhaps one side-effect from standing almost alone against Iranian regime oppression is that it has bred a particularly hardy volunteer force, dedicated to tolerance and the idea of a safe, secure Kurdistan.
After gaining air support, Peshmerga forces have proven an effective bulwark against the fanatical hatred of this misnamed “Islamic State”, but it is still extremely early days. PDKI statements say they have liberated several villages and handed IS prisoners over to the Government. Following this success, it now looks as though PDKI units will be used as reserve forces, standing behind Kurdish Regional Government troops – on alert but back from the frontline for now.
It remains to be seen what further contribution the Socialist International’s comrades in Iranian Kurdistan will make during this crisis, but I was able to speak to my friend Loghman Ahmedi, the PDKI’s Head of International Relations, over the past few days. He was clear that IS forces pose a threat to Kurdistan as a whole, but also that:
“It is our duty to both protect the defenceless civilians in the region against this brutal organisation and to preserve the democratic and progressive government in Iraqi Kurdistan.”
So it’s a war of necessary survival, but it’s also about standing against crimes that – in principle – we assume are beyond the pale: beheadings; forced starvation; torture; rape and genocide. They are only beyond the pale if someone will stop them.
Chronicles of our time will mark the killings in Rwanda and the atrocities of Srebrenica as events that happened because nobody would step in. It remains to be seen what will happen in Kurdistan and Iraq. We do not yet know if the torture inflicted on the Yazidi will end in a completed genocide, but what we do know is that the men and women of the PDKI didn’t ask “am I my brother’s keeper?”.
They marched to the front line – some reports say with 60 bullets each – not because it was expedient, nor because they share a faith with all of those being victimised, but because they were in a position to do something and they wouldn’t stand by.
As the crisis continues, the world must give them – and the other Kurdish forces they fight alongside – the support they need to continue protecting civilians from IS forces.
Kenny Young previously worked as press officer for Gordon Brown and Ed Milliband of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom
Former Peshmerga killed by Iran- Ferhad Mohammadi
A former Peshmerga has been murdered, the PDKI says- at present this release from them is all that is known but any updates will be posted:
A former PDKI Peshmerga by the name of Ferhad Mohammadi was brutally murdered by individuals affiliated with Iran's Basij forces in the Soma Bradost region outside the Kurdish city of Ourmye. Mohammadi was beheaded and his heart was cut out of his body and left next to his body according to witnesses.
Iran spread miss information and claimed it was ISIS that beheaded former PDKI Peshmerga Ferhad Mohammadi. All Kurdish witnesses in the region state that it was individuals affiliated with Iran's Basij force that brutally kille Mohammadi. http://nisannews.net/?p=2587
(Some background on the Basij:
http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/basij-resistance-force
http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/terrorism-fundamentalism/16496-iran-senior-irgc-commander-130-000-trained-basij-forces-waiting-to-enter-syria)
A former PDKI Peshmerga by the name of Ferhad Mohammadi was brutally murdered by individuals affiliated with Iran's Basij forces in the Soma Bradost region outside the Kurdish city of Ourmye. Mohammadi was beheaded and his heart was cut out of his body and left next to his body according to witnesses.
Iran spread miss information and claimed it was ISIS that beheaded former PDKI Peshmerga Ferhad Mohammadi. All Kurdish witnesses in the region state that it was individuals affiliated with Iran's Basij force that brutally kille Mohammadi. http://nisannews.net/?p=2587
(Some background on the Basij:
http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/basij-resistance-force
http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/terrorism-fundamentalism/16496-iran-senior-irgc-commander-130-000-trained-basij-forces-waiting-to-enter-syria)
miércoles, 8 de octubre de 2014
Round up of News in East Kurdistan- Oct. 7
Iranian Kurdistan News in brief
October 7, 2014
Mariwan - Mehabad - Sanandaj (Sne) - Baneh - Saqiz - Paweh- Kermanshan - Urmiyê (Orumiye), Nowsud, Sardasht, Bokan, Paweh, west Azerbaijan, [Eastern Kurdistan, Iranian Kurdistan]
A Kurdish civilian was killed by IRGC forces
Iran's IRGC forces opened fire on a number of Kurdish Carrier man (Kolrbar) and killed Pedram Mohammadi, 19, at the scene. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on Monday, 29th September, Revolutionary Guard’s “Border Guard troops” at the border checkpoint, called Jaleh, in Bayngan region of “Markheyl” opened fire towards a group of Carriers men, Kolbaran. A 19-year-old young man, Pedarm Mohammadi son of Anoshirvan, from Serias village in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat) was killed instantly and four others who were with him were detained. A local source identified those four people as following: Reykot Mohammadi, Arash Hosseini, Shirzad Hosseini and Horman Hosseini. Kolbaran (carriers) are a group of edgy workers who have to earn their living expenses by carrying goods. They mostly work in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah. They are perforce to carry these items and sell them for a meager wages. They transport these foreign goods outside of the official customs. hra-news.org | Ekurd.net
Security forces threatened a Kurdish family in Dehgolan
The intelligence service has investigated the house of Mohammad Hossain Panahi and threatened the people inside the house. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), intelligence forces with cooperation of Basij headquarter of Gharv-Chay village, the suburbe area of Dehgholan, rushed in Mohammad Hossain Panahi’s house and investigated the house for long time and threatened the family. Mohammad Hossain Panahi is the father of Anvar Hossain Panahi who is a civil right activist of Kurdistan and was arrested by security forces in Autumn 2007 and in Spring was sentenced to death by revolutionary court of Sne (Sanandaj) in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat) . This sentence was reduced to six years in prison after international human rights organizations protested at it. He is now released from prison, but is banned from going back to Kurdistan and lives in exile in Tehran. hra-news.org | Ekurd.net
"40 Percent of Political Prisoners in Iran are Kurds"
http://m.basnews.com/en/News/Details/40-Percent-of-Political-Prisoners-in-Iran-are-Kurds-/34021
BasNews, New York
The Secretary-General of the United Nations said that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani’s consideration of human rights in Iran remains symbolic, with serious efforts for improvement yet to be seen.
In his annual report about human rights in Iran, Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, expressed concern that execution rates in Iran have risen.
’President Rouhani has pledged to decrease restrictions on freedom of expression and to ensure security for the press,’ the report said.
’Unfortunately, those promises have not yet led to significant improvements, and restrictions on freedom of expression continue to affect many areas of life,’ added the UN report.
Ban Ki-moon added that journalists still have obstacles ahead of them and different ethnic and religious minorities continue to face persecution.
Meanwhile, human rights activists in Iran claim that 40% of political prisoners in Iran are Kurds. Among this contingent, 15 face execution.
They also announced that in the past two months, 140 people in Kurdish cities have been arrested, 111 of which were by security forces.
According to media reports, there were between 624 and 727 executions in Iran last year. Estimates for 2012 executions range from 314 to 580.
Release from the PDKI:
Four Kurdish political prisoners in Ourmye prison stage a hunger strike in solidarity with Kobani. The names of the political prisoners on hunger strike are Mohammed Abdullahi, Keiwan Dawodi, Mansor Arwand and Molod Yezdanpenah
October 7, 2014
Mariwan - Mehabad - Sanandaj (Sne) - Baneh - Saqiz - Paweh- Kermanshan - Urmiyê (Orumiye), Nowsud, Sardasht, Bokan, Paweh, west Azerbaijan, [Eastern Kurdistan, Iranian Kurdistan]
A Kurdish civilian was killed by IRGC forces
Iran's IRGC forces opened fire on a number of Kurdish Carrier man (Kolrbar) and killed Pedram Mohammadi, 19, at the scene. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on Monday, 29th September, Revolutionary Guard’s “Border Guard troops” at the border checkpoint, called Jaleh, in Bayngan region of “Markheyl” opened fire towards a group of Carriers men, Kolbaran. A 19-year-old young man, Pedarm Mohammadi son of Anoshirvan, from Serias village in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat) was killed instantly and four others who were with him were detained. A local source identified those four people as following: Reykot Mohammadi, Arash Hosseini, Shirzad Hosseini and Horman Hosseini. Kolbaran (carriers) are a group of edgy workers who have to earn their living expenses by carrying goods. They mostly work in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah. They are perforce to carry these items and sell them for a meager wages. They transport these foreign goods outside of the official customs. hra-news.org | Ekurd.net
Security forces threatened a Kurdish family in Dehgolan
The intelligence service has investigated the house of Mohammad Hossain Panahi and threatened the people inside the house. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), intelligence forces with cooperation of Basij headquarter of Gharv-Chay village, the suburbe area of Dehgholan, rushed in Mohammad Hossain Panahi’s house and investigated the house for long time and threatened the family. Mohammad Hossain Panahi is the father of Anvar Hossain Panahi who is a civil right activist of Kurdistan and was arrested by security forces in Autumn 2007 and in Spring was sentenced to death by revolutionary court of Sne (Sanandaj) in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat) . This sentence was reduced to six years in prison after international human rights organizations protested at it. He is now released from prison, but is banned from going back to Kurdistan and lives in exile in Tehran. hra-news.org | Ekurd.net
"40 Percent of Political Prisoners in Iran are Kurds"
http://m.basnews.com/en/News/Details/40-Percent-of-Political-Prisoners-in-Iran-are-Kurds-/34021
BasNews, New York
The Secretary-General of the United Nations said that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani’s consideration of human rights in Iran remains symbolic, with serious efforts for improvement yet to be seen.
In his annual report about human rights in Iran, Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, expressed concern that execution rates in Iran have risen.
’President Rouhani has pledged to decrease restrictions on freedom of expression and to ensure security for the press,’ the report said.
’Unfortunately, those promises have not yet led to significant improvements, and restrictions on freedom of expression continue to affect many areas of life,’ added the UN report.
Ban Ki-moon added that journalists still have obstacles ahead of them and different ethnic and religious minorities continue to face persecution.
Meanwhile, human rights activists in Iran claim that 40% of political prisoners in Iran are Kurds. Among this contingent, 15 face execution.
They also announced that in the past two months, 140 people in Kurdish cities have been arrested, 111 of which were by security forces.
According to media reports, there were between 624 and 727 executions in Iran last year. Estimates for 2012 executions range from 314 to 580.
Release from the PDKI:
Four Kurdish political prisoners in Ourmye prison stage a hunger strike in solidarity with Kobani. The names of the political prisoners on hunger strike are Mohammed Abdullahi, Keiwan Dawodi, Mansor Arwand and Molod Yezdanpenah
viernes, 4 de julio de 2014
The Republic of Mahabad
Qazi Muhammad’s Son Remembers Father’s Role in Mahabad Uprising
By RUDAW 3/4/2014
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/020420142
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At the time when president Qazi Muhammad was executed by Iranian authorities for leading a short-lived Kurdish republic in Mahabad, his son Ali Qazi was only 13, sitting at home with his family.
On the anniversary of his father’s execution on March 31, 1947, he recalled that Qazi Muhammad, who was president for only a few months before the republic was crushed by the Iranian Shah, was publicly mourned.
"We heard the sounds of people weeping and beating their chests as they approached our home. Then we understood it; then we walked toward Chwarchra."
Muhammad was a well-known and educated Kurdish leader from Mahabad. Along with several colleagues, he began preparations for Kurdish self-determination in 1941, when the Allied powers invaded Iran.
According to his son, the Pahlavi regime had wanted to leave the body of the president and two of his colleagues -- Muhammad Hussein Saif Qazi and Abdul Qassim Sadr Qazi -- in the square for several days after the executions.
“Public pressure from the city of Mahabad -- by closing stores and the market -- forced the regime to transfer the bodies to the people,” he said.
Recounting the final days of his father’s presidency, Ali Qazi called the period a “golden page” in the Kurdish struggle.
"The Republic of Kurdistan is the first and the last Kurdish state that has been established until now," he said. "The Kurdistan Republic is a golden page in the history of the Kurdish liberation struggle."
The Kurdish republic was left stranded after the Soviet Union withdrew its troops and backing from the eastern part of Iran, opening the way for an Iranian crackdown. Ali Qazi explained that his father had vowed not to leave his people behind and decided to face his fate, even after the Kurdish state was left unsupported.
The short-lived Kurdistan Republic was declared on January 22, 1946. It gained support of Kurds from other parts of Kurdistan, mainly Iraq, where former Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani joined the republic, along with thousands of Kurdish fighters.
Ali Qazi castigated Kurdish parties in Iran for not carrying the slogans of freedom and independence for the Kurds.
"President Qazi demanded freedom and independence for the Kurdish people, but if you look at the Iranian Kurdish parties, they have no such slogans."
Qazi said that only his own Kurdistan Free Party (Parti Azadi Kurdistan) has carried these slogans. "We want to raise the Kurdistan flag in Chwarchara once more."
"I don't claim to have served Kurdish people much, but I have served Kurds whenever possible,” he said.
He also added that he and his family had faced lots of persecution by the Iranian governments, and there were even three assassination attempts on him.
In 1990, his sister, Efat Qazi was killed by a letter bomb in Vasteras, Sweden, an incident widely blamed on the Iranian regime.
Ali Qazi said he still had a dream: the formation of a Kurdish state in Greater Kurdistan.
Some photos of the 1946 rebellion, including the execution of its leaders:
http://m.liveleak.com/view?i=9bd_1375841079
Some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCmYyU5ZNx4
Mahabad – the first independent Kurdish republic
http://kurdistantribune.com/2011/mahabad-first-independent-kurdish-republic/
Written on June 12, 2011 by Editor in History, Iran
By Mufid Abdulla:
One of an occasional series of articles on aspects of Kurdish history
The first independent Kurdish republic was in Iran. The ‘State of Republic of Kurdistan’ was founded in Mahabad in January 1946 and, although it survived for less than a year, it greatly inspired Kurdish nationalists everywhere.
Abdication of Reza Shah
The backdrop to this heroic chapter was the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941, carried out primarily to ensure a ‘Persian corridor’ for US Land-Lease supplies to reach the Soviet Union. The invasion led to the abdication of the pro-Nazi Iranian sovereign Reza Shah, who had a record of brutal repression of the Kurds who comprised around ten per cent of Iran’s population. He tried to ban the Kurdish language and national dress and destroy tribal and other organisations through a programme of executions and deportations. Most Kurds welcomed the advance of the Soviet Red Army into northern Iran and armed themselves with weapons abandoned by the retreating Iranian forces. However, Soviet forces were at this stage committed to upholding Iran’s independence and integrity, and initial Kurdish overtures towards the Red Army met with a cool response. A British commentator noted at the time:
“In the north, Kurdish eyes were turned towards Russia. When the Russians entered Iran in 1941 hopes were aroused that they might assist the Kurdish independence movement, but their very correct behaviour quickly gave the Kurds the impression that any such hopes were vain” (1).
The Soviets did forge links with many of the tribal leaders by arranging for a group to spend a fortnight in Baku, the capital of Soviet Azerbaijan, but they gave a non-committal response to demands that the Kurds be allowed to keep all the rifles that they had accumulated. In May 1942 a meeting between Soviet officials and tribal leaders reached deadlock because the Soviet Union was calling for Iranian officials and regulations to be treated with respect, and seized weapons returned to them, while the Kurds demanded that their language to be used in schools and called for ‘freedom in their national affairs’. As William Eagleton Junior put it:
“Nothing came of the meeting except perhaps a growing realisation on the Soviet side that their security problems were beginning to take on a Kurdish nationalist aspect” (2).
The Komala and Qazi Muhammad
Despite Soviet aloofness at this stage, Allied propaganda denouncing the Axis powers for enslaving other nations and calling for political freedom and national self-determination had a strong impact on many Kurds and this was reflected in the establishment of Komala-I-Zhian-Kurd (Committee of the Life of Kurdistan) in Mahabad in September 1942.
Mahabad was a small town of around 16,000 people situated south of the Soviet sphere of influence. The last vestige of authority of the Iranian government in the town was removed in May 1943 when, in response to sugar rationing, a crowd besieged and destroyed the police station, killing several of its inhabitants. The most powerful figure in the town was Qazi Muhammad a hereditary judge who set up a militia to protect the town from raids by the more predatory roving tribal gangs. Mahabad now enjoyed de-facto independence from the government in Tehran.
Initially Qazi Muhammad was not a member of the Komala. In fact, he was unaware of this secret organisation’s existence for about a year. The Komala was formed by a group of fifteen local citizens, aged from nineteen to fifty, who had sworn an oath never to betray the Kurdish nation and to work for self-government. They represented urban pan-Kurdish nationalism and an alternative to the hitherto predominant tribalism. An article in the first issue of Komala’s magazine vehemently denounced the tribalists:
”You the aghas and leaders of Kurdish tribes, think for yourself and judge why the enemy gives you so much money … they give it because they know it will become capital to delay the liberation of the Kurds and hope that in a few years this capital will create intrigues detrimental to the Kurds” (3).
In April 1943 around 100 members of the Komala gathered on a hill outside the town and elected a central committee to coordinate the work of their growing organisation. Komala’s influence spread through much of northern Iran and also into Iraq. In March 1944, it sent Muhammad Amin Sharifi to Kirkuk to meet representatives of the Iraqi Kurdish Hewa party and a few months later the Sulaymani branch of Hewa sent its representatives on a return visit to Mahabad. In May, the Komala and it Iraqi allies designed a Kurdish national flag – a tricolour of red, white and green with a sun mounted by heads of wheat with a mountain and a pen in the background – as a symbol of the Kurdish nation. Then, in August, an historic meeting of Kurds was held at Mount Dalanpar where the frontiers of Iraq, Iran and Turkey intersect. The delegates signed an agreement, known as the Pact of Three Borders, to support each other in the cause of a greater Kurdistan.
Qazi Muhammad joined Komala in 1944 after the central committee initially turned him down, worried – rightly, as it turned out – that he would take control. In March 1945, the movement went public with the performance of a play attended by many of the local tribal leaders who were now sympathetic. ‘Daik i Nisitiman’ portrayed an old woman being abused by three hooligans (Iran, Iraq and Turkey) and then rescued by the united efforts of her sons. According to an American observer, it made the desired impact:
“… the audience, unused to dramatic representations, was deeply moved, and blood-feuds generations old were composed as lifelong enemies fell weeping on each other’s shoulders and swore to avenge Kurdistan” (4).
Soviet Union pursues oil concessions and backs Kurds
These developments coincided with a shift in strategy by the Soviet Union, now buoyant following its tremendous military victories over Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union wanted to press the Iranian government to grant it oil concessions and decided to encourage separatist movements among the Iranian Azerbaijanis and Kurds as a bargaining chip. Soviet agents flooded into Iranian Kurdistan and tried to control the direction of the Komala.
In September 1945, Qazi Muhammad and a group of prominent Kurds were invited for a second visit to Baku. At a reception with Mir Jafar Baghirov, the head of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, the Kurds made clear their wish for a separate Kurdish state backed by Soviet arms and money. Baghirov told them that their desire for statehood could not be immediately fulfilled because they were dependent on developments in three countries (Iran, Iraq and Turkey) and, in the interim, the aspirations of Iran’s Kurds could be met within an autonomous region of Iranian Azerbaijan. Qazi Muhammad stood up to insist that the Kurds wanted separate autonomy and Baghirov changed his tune.
“Banging his fist on the table, he proclaimed that, as long as the Soviet Union exists, the Kurds will have their independence. Qazi rose to the emotional pitch of his host by declaring that a weak nation would welcome any hand extended to it: ‘Not only will we shake it we will also kiss it’” (5).
Qazi went on the press the case for material support and Baghirov pledged the delivery of military equipment, including tanks, cannon, machine guns and rifles, in “emphatic if general terms” (6). He also argued for the Komala to convert itself into a fully fledged party – the Democratic Party of Kurdistan.
This proposal was implemented soon after the delegation returned to Mahabad. The new party’s manifesto was signed by many leading Kurds who demanded:
“We must fight for our rights … It is for this sacred aim that the Kurdish Democratic Party has been established in Mahabad …It is the party that will be able to secure its national independence within the borders of Persia” (7).
The party’s programme consisted of the following points: the Kurds in Iran should have freedom and self-government in the administration of their local affairs and obtain autonomy within the limits of the Iranian state; the Kurdish language should be the medium of education and administration; a provincial council for Kurdistan should be elected to supervise state and social matters; all government officials should be Kurds; revenue collected in Kurdistan should be spent there; the development of the local economy, public health and education; unity and fraternity with the Azerbaijani people; and the establishment of a single law for peasants and notables.
Barzani arrives
The launch coincided with the arrival in Iran of the Iraqi Kurd leader Mustafa Barzani with several thousand fighters and their families following the defeat of their uprising in Iraq.
Although Soviet officials feared that Barzani was close to the British he soon forged an alliance with Qazi Muhammad who arranged for the Iraqi Kurds to be billeted in Mahabad and other neighbouring towns.
Republic proclaimed
In December 1945 the Iranian garrison in Tabriz, the effective capital of Iranian Azerbaijan, surrendered to the militia forces of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party which proclaimed an Azerbaijan People’s Government and assumed authority for all of eastern (Iranian) Azerbaijan. From the outset it had the trappings of a Soviet-backed regime, including a proclamation of land reform and a secret police force. These events created pressure on Qazi Muhammad to follow suit or risk being outflanked by younger, more militant nationalist elements in Mahabad. On 22 January 1946 he proclaimed the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan at a meeting in the town centre attended by local citizens, tribal leaders from across the region and three Soviet officers. A national parliament of thirteen members was approved by the crowd, as was the election of Qazi Muhammad as president of the republic.
That same day the new president announced the opening of a high school for girls, a significant reform in a region where the education of girls was practically non-existent. The Kurdish parliament passed laws for universal and compulsory elementary education, with free instruction, clothing, food and textbooks for the children of the poor. Teaching in the Kurdish language was introduced for the first time though, for practical reasons, Kurdish textbooks only became available shortly before the fall of the republic.
The Soviet influence was more subdued here than in Azerbaijan. The Kurds hung portraits in Stalin in government offices but there was no significant repression and no secret police. In an interview with a French journalist, Qazi Muhammad expressed a conciliatory approach to the Tehran government:
“The Kurds would be satisfied if the central government decided really to apply democratic laws throughout Iran and recognised the laws now in force in Kurdistan concerning the education of the Kurd and the autonomy of the local administration and the army.
“The situation in Kurdistan is very different from that in Azerbaijan. Our country has never been occupied by Soviet troops and since the abdication of Reza Shah, neither the gendarmerie nor Iranian troops have penetrated into Kurdistan. We have therefore practically been living in independence since that time. Further we shall never tolerate foreign intervention wherever it comes from. The question of Kurdistan is a purely internal affair which should be settled between Kurds and the central government” (8).
Indeed Soviet material support was much more limited than many Kurds had hoped for: a vital printing press arrived, together with a supply of rifles and pistols but there were no tanks.
Soviet Union and tribal leaders backtrack
Although the Kurds did not realise it, the fate of their republic was sealed the moment the Soviet Union pledged to withdraw all its forces from Iran in return for the prospect of oil concessions. Shortly after this the fledging Azerbaijan regime in Tabriz signed an agreement with Tehran formally reverting to Iranian sovereignty and leaving the Kurds effectively isolated. The Republic of Kurdistan had established an army of around 13,000 fighters, including the big contingent of Iraqi Kurds under the command of Barzani. The Kurds even contemplated a southern offensive against Iranian forces but this plan was shelved in response to Soviet warnings.
When Qazi Muhammad began negotiations with Tehran it was from a weakening position, especially because many Kurdish tribal leaders were now distancing themselves. They were motivated by a variety of factors, including historic hostility to Russia, religious hostility to the atheist Soviet Union, concern about the economic viability of the republic, resentment toward the Iraqi Kurd Barzani (who was one of the republic’s four generals), annoyance that the republic’s president was not himself a traditional tribal leader and finally a shrewd sense of where the wind was blowing and a desire not to be on the losing side. In December the Iranian army entered Tabriz and the pro-Soviet regime collapsed instantly, with most of its leaders fleeing across the border. Although Qazi Muhammad’s war council had pledged to fight the Iranian army, many tribal chiefs and notables were changing sides and it was decided not to resist the occupation of Mahabad.
In the early hours of March 23 1947, Qazi Muhammad, his brother Sadr Qazi, and his cousin Sayf Qadr were hanged at dawn in the town centre where the republic had been proclaimed just ten months before. It was a vindictive act by the Tehran regime against the leaders of a popular, progressive and largely peaceful nationalist movement.
An American correspondent wrote:
“… while terrorism reigned unchecked in eastern Azerbaijan, in Kurdistan there were few if any political prisoners and only one or two cases of what may have been political assassination; though a number of Kurds not in sympathy with the regime did flee to Tehran. In the streets of Mahabad one could hear radio broadcasts from Ankara and London, while in Tabriz to listen to these brought the death penalty … the net result was to make the regime popular at least among the citizens of Mahabad who enjoyed their respite from the exactions and oppression they considered to be characteristic of the central Iranian Government” (9).
As the historian David McDowall put it: “The Qazi trio perished because they personified the nationalist ideal” (10).
While the Iranian regime succeeded in cowing Iran’s Kurds for a generation, they also created martyrs who would inspire the Kurdish struggle in Iraq and elsewhere. The tradition of nationalist, as opposed to tribal, struggle became entrenched in the Kurds’ collective consciousness.
References
The Kurdish Question, WG Elphinston, Royal Institute of International Affairs,1946
The Kurdish Republic of 1946, William Eagleton Jr, Oxford University Press, 1963
A Modern History of the Kurds, David McDowall, IB Taurus, 2004
The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, Archie Roosevelt Jr., Middle East Journal, no 1, July 1947
Eagleton
Eagleton
McDowall
Eagleton
Eagleton
McDowall
By RUDAW 3/4/2014
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/020420142
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At the time when president Qazi Muhammad was executed by Iranian authorities for leading a short-lived Kurdish republic in Mahabad, his son Ali Qazi was only 13, sitting at home with his family.
On the anniversary of his father’s execution on March 31, 1947, he recalled that Qazi Muhammad, who was president for only a few months before the republic was crushed by the Iranian Shah, was publicly mourned.
"We heard the sounds of people weeping and beating their chests as they approached our home. Then we understood it; then we walked toward Chwarchra."
Muhammad was a well-known and educated Kurdish leader from Mahabad. Along with several colleagues, he began preparations for Kurdish self-determination in 1941, when the Allied powers invaded Iran.
According to his son, the Pahlavi regime had wanted to leave the body of the president and two of his colleagues -- Muhammad Hussein Saif Qazi and Abdul Qassim Sadr Qazi -- in the square for several days after the executions.
“Public pressure from the city of Mahabad -- by closing stores and the market -- forced the regime to transfer the bodies to the people,” he said.
Recounting the final days of his father’s presidency, Ali Qazi called the period a “golden page” in the Kurdish struggle.
"The Republic of Kurdistan is the first and the last Kurdish state that has been established until now," he said. "The Kurdistan Republic is a golden page in the history of the Kurdish liberation struggle."
The Kurdish republic was left stranded after the Soviet Union withdrew its troops and backing from the eastern part of Iran, opening the way for an Iranian crackdown. Ali Qazi explained that his father had vowed not to leave his people behind and decided to face his fate, even after the Kurdish state was left unsupported.
The short-lived Kurdistan Republic was declared on January 22, 1946. It gained support of Kurds from other parts of Kurdistan, mainly Iraq, where former Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani joined the republic, along with thousands of Kurdish fighters.
Ali Qazi castigated Kurdish parties in Iran for not carrying the slogans of freedom and independence for the Kurds.
"President Qazi demanded freedom and independence for the Kurdish people, but if you look at the Iranian Kurdish parties, they have no such slogans."
Qazi said that only his own Kurdistan Free Party (Parti Azadi Kurdistan) has carried these slogans. "We want to raise the Kurdistan flag in Chwarchara once more."
"I don't claim to have served Kurdish people much, but I have served Kurds whenever possible,” he said.
He also added that he and his family had faced lots of persecution by the Iranian governments, and there were even three assassination attempts on him.
In 1990, his sister, Efat Qazi was killed by a letter bomb in Vasteras, Sweden, an incident widely blamed on the Iranian regime.
Ali Qazi said he still had a dream: the formation of a Kurdish state in Greater Kurdistan.
Some photos of the 1946 rebellion, including the execution of its leaders:
http://m.liveleak.com/view?i=9bd_1375841079
Some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCmYyU5ZNx4
Mahabad – the first independent Kurdish republic
http://kurdistantribune.com/2011/mahabad-first-independent-kurdish-republic/
Written on June 12, 2011 by Editor in History, Iran
By Mufid Abdulla:
One of an occasional series of articles on aspects of Kurdish history
The first independent Kurdish republic was in Iran. The ‘State of Republic of Kurdistan’ was founded in Mahabad in January 1946 and, although it survived for less than a year, it greatly inspired Kurdish nationalists everywhere.
Abdication of Reza Shah
The backdrop to this heroic chapter was the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941, carried out primarily to ensure a ‘Persian corridor’ for US Land-Lease supplies to reach the Soviet Union. The invasion led to the abdication of the pro-Nazi Iranian sovereign Reza Shah, who had a record of brutal repression of the Kurds who comprised around ten per cent of Iran’s population. He tried to ban the Kurdish language and national dress and destroy tribal and other organisations through a programme of executions and deportations. Most Kurds welcomed the advance of the Soviet Red Army into northern Iran and armed themselves with weapons abandoned by the retreating Iranian forces. However, Soviet forces were at this stage committed to upholding Iran’s independence and integrity, and initial Kurdish overtures towards the Red Army met with a cool response. A British commentator noted at the time:
“In the north, Kurdish eyes were turned towards Russia. When the Russians entered Iran in 1941 hopes were aroused that they might assist the Kurdish independence movement, but their very correct behaviour quickly gave the Kurds the impression that any such hopes were vain” (1).
The Soviets did forge links with many of the tribal leaders by arranging for a group to spend a fortnight in Baku, the capital of Soviet Azerbaijan, but they gave a non-committal response to demands that the Kurds be allowed to keep all the rifles that they had accumulated. In May 1942 a meeting between Soviet officials and tribal leaders reached deadlock because the Soviet Union was calling for Iranian officials and regulations to be treated with respect, and seized weapons returned to them, while the Kurds demanded that their language to be used in schools and called for ‘freedom in their national affairs’. As William Eagleton Junior put it:
“Nothing came of the meeting except perhaps a growing realisation on the Soviet side that their security problems were beginning to take on a Kurdish nationalist aspect” (2).
The Komala and Qazi Muhammad
Despite Soviet aloofness at this stage, Allied propaganda denouncing the Axis powers for enslaving other nations and calling for political freedom and national self-determination had a strong impact on many Kurds and this was reflected in the establishment of Komala-I-Zhian-Kurd (Committee of the Life of Kurdistan) in Mahabad in September 1942.
Mahabad was a small town of around 16,000 people situated south of the Soviet sphere of influence. The last vestige of authority of the Iranian government in the town was removed in May 1943 when, in response to sugar rationing, a crowd besieged and destroyed the police station, killing several of its inhabitants. The most powerful figure in the town was Qazi Muhammad a hereditary judge who set up a militia to protect the town from raids by the more predatory roving tribal gangs. Mahabad now enjoyed de-facto independence from the government in Tehran.
Initially Qazi Muhammad was not a member of the Komala. In fact, he was unaware of this secret organisation’s existence for about a year. The Komala was formed by a group of fifteen local citizens, aged from nineteen to fifty, who had sworn an oath never to betray the Kurdish nation and to work for self-government. They represented urban pan-Kurdish nationalism and an alternative to the hitherto predominant tribalism. An article in the first issue of Komala’s magazine vehemently denounced the tribalists:
”You the aghas and leaders of Kurdish tribes, think for yourself and judge why the enemy gives you so much money … they give it because they know it will become capital to delay the liberation of the Kurds and hope that in a few years this capital will create intrigues detrimental to the Kurds” (3).
In April 1943 around 100 members of the Komala gathered on a hill outside the town and elected a central committee to coordinate the work of their growing organisation. Komala’s influence spread through much of northern Iran and also into Iraq. In March 1944, it sent Muhammad Amin Sharifi to Kirkuk to meet representatives of the Iraqi Kurdish Hewa party and a few months later the Sulaymani branch of Hewa sent its representatives on a return visit to Mahabad. In May, the Komala and it Iraqi allies designed a Kurdish national flag – a tricolour of red, white and green with a sun mounted by heads of wheat with a mountain and a pen in the background – as a symbol of the Kurdish nation. Then, in August, an historic meeting of Kurds was held at Mount Dalanpar where the frontiers of Iraq, Iran and Turkey intersect. The delegates signed an agreement, known as the Pact of Three Borders, to support each other in the cause of a greater Kurdistan.
Qazi Muhammad joined Komala in 1944 after the central committee initially turned him down, worried – rightly, as it turned out – that he would take control. In March 1945, the movement went public with the performance of a play attended by many of the local tribal leaders who were now sympathetic. ‘Daik i Nisitiman’ portrayed an old woman being abused by three hooligans (Iran, Iraq and Turkey) and then rescued by the united efforts of her sons. According to an American observer, it made the desired impact:
“… the audience, unused to dramatic representations, was deeply moved, and blood-feuds generations old were composed as lifelong enemies fell weeping on each other’s shoulders and swore to avenge Kurdistan” (4).
Soviet Union pursues oil concessions and backs Kurds
These developments coincided with a shift in strategy by the Soviet Union, now buoyant following its tremendous military victories over Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union wanted to press the Iranian government to grant it oil concessions and decided to encourage separatist movements among the Iranian Azerbaijanis and Kurds as a bargaining chip. Soviet agents flooded into Iranian Kurdistan and tried to control the direction of the Komala.
In September 1945, Qazi Muhammad and a group of prominent Kurds were invited for a second visit to Baku. At a reception with Mir Jafar Baghirov, the head of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, the Kurds made clear their wish for a separate Kurdish state backed by Soviet arms and money. Baghirov told them that their desire for statehood could not be immediately fulfilled because they were dependent on developments in three countries (Iran, Iraq and Turkey) and, in the interim, the aspirations of Iran’s Kurds could be met within an autonomous region of Iranian Azerbaijan. Qazi Muhammad stood up to insist that the Kurds wanted separate autonomy and Baghirov changed his tune.
“Banging his fist on the table, he proclaimed that, as long as the Soviet Union exists, the Kurds will have their independence. Qazi rose to the emotional pitch of his host by declaring that a weak nation would welcome any hand extended to it: ‘Not only will we shake it we will also kiss it’” (5).
Qazi went on the press the case for material support and Baghirov pledged the delivery of military equipment, including tanks, cannon, machine guns and rifles, in “emphatic if general terms” (6). He also argued for the Komala to convert itself into a fully fledged party – the Democratic Party of Kurdistan.
This proposal was implemented soon after the delegation returned to Mahabad. The new party’s manifesto was signed by many leading Kurds who demanded:
“We must fight for our rights … It is for this sacred aim that the Kurdish Democratic Party has been established in Mahabad …It is the party that will be able to secure its national independence within the borders of Persia” (7).
The party’s programme consisted of the following points: the Kurds in Iran should have freedom and self-government in the administration of their local affairs and obtain autonomy within the limits of the Iranian state; the Kurdish language should be the medium of education and administration; a provincial council for Kurdistan should be elected to supervise state and social matters; all government officials should be Kurds; revenue collected in Kurdistan should be spent there; the development of the local economy, public health and education; unity and fraternity with the Azerbaijani people; and the establishment of a single law for peasants and notables.
Barzani arrives
The launch coincided with the arrival in Iran of the Iraqi Kurd leader Mustafa Barzani with several thousand fighters and their families following the defeat of their uprising in Iraq.
Although Soviet officials feared that Barzani was close to the British he soon forged an alliance with Qazi Muhammad who arranged for the Iraqi Kurds to be billeted in Mahabad and other neighbouring towns.
Republic proclaimed
In December 1945 the Iranian garrison in Tabriz, the effective capital of Iranian Azerbaijan, surrendered to the militia forces of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party which proclaimed an Azerbaijan People’s Government and assumed authority for all of eastern (Iranian) Azerbaijan. From the outset it had the trappings of a Soviet-backed regime, including a proclamation of land reform and a secret police force. These events created pressure on Qazi Muhammad to follow suit or risk being outflanked by younger, more militant nationalist elements in Mahabad. On 22 January 1946 he proclaimed the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan at a meeting in the town centre attended by local citizens, tribal leaders from across the region and three Soviet officers. A national parliament of thirteen members was approved by the crowd, as was the election of Qazi Muhammad as president of the republic.
That same day the new president announced the opening of a high school for girls, a significant reform in a region where the education of girls was practically non-existent. The Kurdish parliament passed laws for universal and compulsory elementary education, with free instruction, clothing, food and textbooks for the children of the poor. Teaching in the Kurdish language was introduced for the first time though, for practical reasons, Kurdish textbooks only became available shortly before the fall of the republic.
The Soviet influence was more subdued here than in Azerbaijan. The Kurds hung portraits in Stalin in government offices but there was no significant repression and no secret police. In an interview with a French journalist, Qazi Muhammad expressed a conciliatory approach to the Tehran government:
“The Kurds would be satisfied if the central government decided really to apply democratic laws throughout Iran and recognised the laws now in force in Kurdistan concerning the education of the Kurd and the autonomy of the local administration and the army.
“The situation in Kurdistan is very different from that in Azerbaijan. Our country has never been occupied by Soviet troops and since the abdication of Reza Shah, neither the gendarmerie nor Iranian troops have penetrated into Kurdistan. We have therefore practically been living in independence since that time. Further we shall never tolerate foreign intervention wherever it comes from. The question of Kurdistan is a purely internal affair which should be settled between Kurds and the central government” (8).
Indeed Soviet material support was much more limited than many Kurds had hoped for: a vital printing press arrived, together with a supply of rifles and pistols but there were no tanks.
Soviet Union and tribal leaders backtrack
Although the Kurds did not realise it, the fate of their republic was sealed the moment the Soviet Union pledged to withdraw all its forces from Iran in return for the prospect of oil concessions. Shortly after this the fledging Azerbaijan regime in Tabriz signed an agreement with Tehran formally reverting to Iranian sovereignty and leaving the Kurds effectively isolated. The Republic of Kurdistan had established an army of around 13,000 fighters, including the big contingent of Iraqi Kurds under the command of Barzani. The Kurds even contemplated a southern offensive against Iranian forces but this plan was shelved in response to Soviet warnings.
When Qazi Muhammad began negotiations with Tehran it was from a weakening position, especially because many Kurdish tribal leaders were now distancing themselves. They were motivated by a variety of factors, including historic hostility to Russia, religious hostility to the atheist Soviet Union, concern about the economic viability of the republic, resentment toward the Iraqi Kurd Barzani (who was one of the republic’s four generals), annoyance that the republic’s president was not himself a traditional tribal leader and finally a shrewd sense of where the wind was blowing and a desire not to be on the losing side. In December the Iranian army entered Tabriz and the pro-Soviet regime collapsed instantly, with most of its leaders fleeing across the border. Although Qazi Muhammad’s war council had pledged to fight the Iranian army, many tribal chiefs and notables were changing sides and it was decided not to resist the occupation of Mahabad.
In the early hours of March 23 1947, Qazi Muhammad, his brother Sadr Qazi, and his cousin Sayf Qadr were hanged at dawn in the town centre where the republic had been proclaimed just ten months before. It was a vindictive act by the Tehran regime against the leaders of a popular, progressive and largely peaceful nationalist movement.
An American correspondent wrote:
“… while terrorism reigned unchecked in eastern Azerbaijan, in Kurdistan there were few if any political prisoners and only one or two cases of what may have been political assassination; though a number of Kurds not in sympathy with the regime did flee to Tehran. In the streets of Mahabad one could hear radio broadcasts from Ankara and London, while in Tabriz to listen to these brought the death penalty … the net result was to make the regime popular at least among the citizens of Mahabad who enjoyed their respite from the exactions and oppression they considered to be characteristic of the central Iranian Government” (9).
As the historian David McDowall put it: “The Qazi trio perished because they personified the nationalist ideal” (10).
While the Iranian regime succeeded in cowing Iran’s Kurds for a generation, they also created martyrs who would inspire the Kurdish struggle in Iraq and elsewhere. The tradition of nationalist, as opposed to tribal, struggle became entrenched in the Kurds’ collective consciousness.
References
The Kurdish Question, WG Elphinston, Royal Institute of International Affairs,1946
The Kurdish Republic of 1946, William Eagleton Jr, Oxford University Press, 1963
A Modern History of the Kurds, David McDowall, IB Taurus, 2004
The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, Archie Roosevelt Jr., Middle East Journal, no 1, July 1947
Eagleton
Eagleton
McDowall
Eagleton
Eagleton
McDowall
martes, 1 de julio de 2014
Kurdish Activists Assassinated by Iran
The following is a list of victims of Iranian assassinations. I have copied and pasted the Kurdish victims (mostly PDKI and Komeleh political leaders), though the list contains many more- the majority non-violent dissidents.
It is obvious from the list that Iran has no qualms attacking its dissidents anywhere, even in supposed safe zones like the US and Germany. (One of the unreported secrets of the PJAK war is that Iran bombed targets in Iraqi Kurdistan while it was under American control.)
A more complete but less detailed list can be found here:
http://www.pdk-iran.org/english/doc/terrorismus.htm
(See also: http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/publications/reports/3150-murder-at-mykonos-anatomy-of-a-political-assassination.html)
http://www.iran-e-azad.org/english/terrorlist.html
(Name, Date of death, place of death, description)
Osman Rahimi 18.03.96 Iraq Iraqi Kurdestan
Taher Azizi 18.03.96 Iraq Iraqi Kurdestan
Hassan Ebrahimzadeh 18.03.96 Iraq Iraqi Kurdestan
Faramarz Keshavarz 18.03.96 Iraq Iraqi Kurdestan
Mohammad Sadeq Sharafkandi 17.09.92 Germany- leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, three other Kurds (Homayoun Ardalan, Fattah Abdolahi, and Nuri Dehkordi) and a fifth unidentified individual. Sharafkandi and the 3 Kurds were shot dead when terrorists sprayed them with machinegun fire
Shahpour Firouzi 31.05.92 Iraq member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Revolutionary Leadership. Assassinated by machinegun.
Members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party 29.10.91 Iraq A bomb-laden mini-bus was detonated in the path of a bus carrying the KDP members and their families. 3 persons were killed and a number, including small children, wounded.
Saeed Yazdanpanah 19.09.91 Iraq member of the Revolutionary Union of the Kurdish People, and Sirous Katibeh, his secretary. Terrorist infiltrators stabbed both to death at Yazdanpanah's residence.
Ahad Aqa 01.01.91 Iraq Member of Kurdistan Democratic Party. Assassinated in the street.
Komeleh H.Q 01.01.91 Iraq A Peshmarg was killed when a bomb planted by terrorists went off at the HQ.
Amir Qazi 06.09.90 Sweden member of Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran. His wife, Effat Qazi, was killed when she opened a letter bomb addressed to her husband.
Ali Kashefpour 15.07.90 Turkey member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran -Revolutionary Leadership. Terrorists kidnapped him from his home in a refugee quarter. His tortured body was later found in a roadside ditch.
Sadiq Kamangar 04.09.89- Iraq- member of Komeleh. Infiltrators assassinated him at his H.Q.
Bahman Javadi and Youssef Rashidzadeh 26.08.89- Cyprus- members of Komeleh, Javadi was shot and killed in the street. Rashidzadeh was wounded.
Abdol Rahman Qassemlou 13.07.89- Vienna Austria- Leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, Abdullah Qaderi-Azar, Fadel Mala, and Mahmoud Rassoul, his aides. Shot dead in Vienna while meeting secretly with representatives of Rafsanjani. A senior Guards Corps commander oversaw the murders.
domingo, 29 de junio de 2014
Remembering the 1979 Revolt
A Kurdish mother tends to an infant wounded in the fighting.
A Kurdish soldier shows his sidearm to some admirers
(Above photos from: http://www.sarafrazan.net/howanationcommited%20.htm)BBC: August, 1979: Kurdish revolt grows in Iran
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/23/newsid_2535000/2535165.stm
Kurds in Iran have ousted government troops from a large area near the Iraqi border.
However, they have full control of only one town, Mahabad, the centre of Iranian Kurdistan in the north-west of the country.
The revolt began last week when Kurdish tribesmen overpowered Iranian soldiers in the nearby town of Paveh.
The fighting later spread to the towns of Divan Darreh, Saqqez and Mahabad which was briefly the capital of an independent Kurdish republic from 1946-7.
Iran's four million Kurds have been disappointed the ousting of the Shah and the setting up of an Islamic state has not brought them more autonomy.
Hiding
Many of the 15 million Kurds inhabiting the mountainous area where Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and the Soviet republic of Armenia meet want it to be declared an independent state.
But Turkey and Iraq in particular have always resisted giving up sovereignty over their portions of Kurdistan.
Earlier this year Kurdish leaders met Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, who warned them against trying to break away from Iran.
Many Kurdish leaders have now gone into hiding after Ayatollah Khomeini ordered their arrest.
In spite of the current fighting, Iran's Kurds say they do not want to sever the territory from the rest of the country.
"If we cut ourselves off we would have only the mountains and the goats. We would die from hunger," said one Kurdish leader.
Iranian newspaper reports have put the number killed so far at about 600.
Traditionally, Iran's Kurds have been less strident in their demands for independence and have rarely resorted to violence.
They have more in common with the majority population who are Persians than Kurds in Turkey and Iraq have with the majority Arabs there.
domingo, 22 de junio de 2014
The East Kurdistan Independent Party (EKIP)
- What is the East Kurdistan Independence Party?
"We are a different political party, which is not struggling for a minimal rights, like autonomy or federalism, but we are fighting for our full national independence. Kurdistan belongs to Kurdish people and it must be governed by a joint participatory administrative system which is comprised of both Kurds and the other nationalities whose living in Kurdistan.
We were established in 2006, and never tried to start a serious armed movement as our leading organ was dominated by a corrupt leader. We removed him from his position, then from our entire organization in February 2013. Then we reorganized our entire organization, and started to revision our policy, party program, strategies and tactics, philosophy and methodology and organizational structure. We say we have revolutionized us completely, because we have returned to our roots.
Our past and history contains valuable systems and mechanisms which if they modernized then we have a fully liable political and administrative system which is adapted to the conditions of our society. The result of this development proses is what we call Djivaki Republic of Kurdistan. In this republic the society is run based on the Kurdish participatory mechanisms.
Returning to our roots demands a review of our history, our national identity which can encourage or develop new basic believes as an important fundaments developing a system or a package of systems. All from believe and culture to economy and politic. All of this system are united in one essential old Kurdish value; labor and happiness. There should be the formula for combining both labor and happiness, in a such relation which falling in a perfect natural and ecological harmony together. This is our main philosophy and we deeply believe in it. We call this Vehumena, which is based on psychological self-developing methods.
Our system is including many things of course, like a package of urgent tasks. In this stage which we call occupying stage, as our land is taken by enemy states, then we should have som solutions, tactics and strategies to liberate our land.
We believe that we have been in a political stage in almost 70 years, which we call political party stage. In this stage political parties have had militia forces and fought against the occupier without no results. We need to pass this stage and start a new stage which we call movement stage which is going to use the most dynamism in the society. A movement should be enforced by a formal and official structural organization as we call Liberating State.
Our most urgent task now is to stimulate the Kurdish society both in exile and within the country to switch to this form of movement and we have had some progress to aware effective Kurdish individuals to realize this urgency. This is our most urgent priority which is turning into a movement which we dream cover our entire land.
- What is liberating state?
We believe that a political party should only should be a political party and not a combination of militia forces and a political hardcore. This phase has to get to an end and a new methodological strategy has to occur. In this new stage the struggle for our liberation most have an national and international credibility. This credibility can only occur if we start the right organization for it. Liberating State is what we believe is the right organization which is a transferral government starting from exile and continuing in Kurdistan among our people.
Liberating State will be organized as a government with all necessary executive organs and commissions to lead a credible, formal and official struggle to liberate Rojhelat. This government will of course have both national and international tasks and this will also have a liberating Army with a movement structure which can effectively fight the occupier and liberate our land village by village and city by city.
We have started very wide dialog with Kurds in exile, maybe many Kurds are still not reached, but we will reach everyone. We have a deadline to uncover our first initiative, but before we do that we need to reach enough people! The form which we are getting organized is so long Djivaki methods which does not belong to our party only, but to our ancient nation. This is a participatory method which gives everyone to play an their adapted role in liberation of Kurdistan.
With a time perspective of five years, we need to get liberated. That's why all Kurds in Kurdistan and exile need to unite and come together as we want to be free. Liberating State is non political party approach to our dream which is liberation of Kurdistan.
- How is EKIP organized? What form did this returning to roots take?
"We have renewed our organization and moved from the classical democratic centralism to a modernized form of traditional participatory Kurdish structure, called Djivaki organizational system. This is the closest form of organizing method to our Kurdish mentality which we have inherited from ancient people of Zagros mountains, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The reason for this change was that we found democracy and centralism very antagonistic to each other... Our share of "democratic centralism" have been only intern conflicts and using our resources for fighting against each other.
As Kurdish people we are more or less used to collective and participatory mentality which is thousands of years old among Kurdish people. The best choice for us was, to not imitate western democracy or eastern socialism, but modernize our own civilization instead.
We exposed our new program to the public in November (2013) and since then, our popularity has increased dramatically. In Rojhelat where we are concentrating our struggle, we have also achieved high popularity, now working on plans to organize further.
- What is your attitude regarding "armed struggle?"
"We have realized that the classical Peshmarga forces are not enough for liberating our land. We don't want to kill or to be killed for putting pressure on Tehran to negotiate with us and recognize a minimal national right like autonomy or federalism. We need a more effective means. We are working hard to encourage Kurdish youth to start an armed liberating movement organized as Kurdistan Liberating Army which is really capable to liberate our land, not only fight to keep us alive as a nation.
Our first priority is getting all kind of support from our people, and we want to capture the supplies we need for armed struggle. Kurdish fighters are very good on this. This is our main policy.
- What is the situation in East Kurdistan today?
"Living in East-Kurdistan is hard and risky. The sanctions made the government and the revolution guard reacher, greedier and more violent, while our people are suffering from extreme poverty. And we all know how the governmental violence is growing to the record high levels. Governmental murders are not killing only political activists or political prisoners, but also Kolbers (border porters) and their horses. Persecutions reaching a lighter level as never before.
Rohani government collected votes by promising what they call "minorities" more rights, but right after he took over, a new wave of judgments, arrests and executions started. On the other side, his cabinet is doing his best to manipulate the western powers about the nuclear activity, just in order to lighten the sanctions. Even we believe that the sanctions make Tehran more violent, reacher and greedier, but we also know that the flexibility the West is showing Tehran, makes the region more unstable as Tehran is a big threat against stability in the region specially the safety of Israel and Sunni Muslims.
Rojhelat now is suffering from being unorganized, despite the Kurdish national awareness is increasing. The armed forces belonging to Rojhelat are now passive and no liberating or fighting for that matter is going on. This is going on while the time is ripe more then ever for starting a liberating struggle. I believe Rojhelat is not going to sacrifice their children for anything less then independence.
In Rojhelat we have a very painful challenge which we need a lot of power to win over, and it is Salafi organization which are affiliated with Alqaeda. They are getting full economic support from Saudi Arabia and full activity freedom from the Iranian regime. They have almost full control over Djiwanro which is a city in Rojhelat. They are teaching suicidal bombers and sending them to Afghanistan and also to Syria and Rojava to fight the Kurdish YPG. We feel that it is our duty to stop this process and we have already warned them that we are going to fight them. We are very serious on this issue- they are Saudi Arabia's iron hand in our land and we have had enough of their hegemony in our land and we are not going to accept it any more.
Another challenge is further militarization of Rojhelat with former Hamza troops which is able to mobilize 250000 troops within 48 hours according to themselves. There is one missile site in my hometown, one in another city, and the biggest missile depot is tunneled in another Kurdish city. This means the Rojhelat is extremely strategic for the regime to threaten Israel and Europe. If Rojhelat getting independent and this regime is still alive, then they lose their maneuvering power against the region and the west and in the same time the a big part of their capability to execute their new safawidism project as one of the biggest projects in Middle East.
We have many other challenges in Rojhelat, and it is only possible to fight back with an independent movement with the right strategies, projects and solutions for all challenges.
Contact/ Learn more:
parti.serbestii@gmail.com
Their website:
www.serbesti.info
Facebook page:
https://m.facebook.com/parti.srk
jueves, 19 de junio de 2014
Death Row for Kurds in iran
Four Iranian Kurdish prisoners on death row at imminent risk amid reports of secret executions 15.6.2014
Amnesty International
LONDON,— Amnesty International, Public statement, 14 June 2014. AI Index: MDE 13/035/2014
Four Sunni Kurdish prisoners on death row, Hamed Ahmadi, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani and Kamal Molaee, have been transferred to solitary confinement and are scheduled to be executed on Sunday 15 June on the charge of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), only days after reports of the secret execution of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi on the same charge, warned Amnesty International.
Amnesty International calls on the authorities not to execute Hamed Ahmadi, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani and Kamal Molaee and immediately impose a moratorium on all executions.
The families of the four men were called on 13 June to visit their relatives for the last time before their death sentence will be implemented in Rajae Shahr prison on 15 June. The four are accused of killing Mullah Mohammad Sheikh al-Islam, a senior Sunni cleric with ties to the Iranian authorities. The men deny the accusation, saying that they had been arrested between June and July 2009, several months before the sheikh’s killing in September 2009, and that they have been targeted solely because they practiced or promoted their faith, such as taking part in Sunni religious seminars and distributing Sunni reading materials. The Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences in September 2013, and the sentences had been sent to the Office for the Implementation of Sentences, the official body in charge of carrying out executions.
The authorities sentenced the four men to death after trials during which basic safeguards, such as rights of defense, were disregarded, in contravention of international fair trial standards
The organization’ call comes amid reports of the secret executions of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi, two members of Iran’s Ahwazi minority who had been held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance since March 2014.
Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi families learned on 12 June 2014 that the men had been executed. The circumstances surrounding the executions remain shrouded in secrecy as the families have been told neither about the date nor the place at which the executions took place, in violation of Iranian law which requires lawyers and families to be notified of scheduled executions 48 hours in advance. The authorities have never even provided the men’s families and lawyer with the verdict sentencing the two men to death.
On 12 June 2014, the brother and son of Ali Chebieshat were told to report to the Ministry of Intelligence office in Ahvaz, the capital of the Province of Khuzestan in southern Iran. They learned of Ali Chebieshat’s execution only after they were driven to a cemetery in Ramhormozz, a city more than 200 km away from the hometown of Ali Chebieshat in Kaab Khalaf Mosallam, Shush, Khuzestan, and shown an unmarked grave presented to them as the grave of Ali Chebieshat. The family of Sayed Khaled Mousawi were told by the Ministry of Intelligence office in Ahvaz that they would be taken to his burial location on 13 June 2014. Both families were warned against holding memorials for their executed relatives.
Later the same day, people in the home village of Ali Chebieshat who learned of his death went to the family home to mourn. Shortly thereafter, plainclothes agents from the Ministry of Intelligence reportedly arrived, and dispersed the informal gathering and arrested Ali Chebieshat’s brother and son. Both men were subsequently released on 13 June 2014 after providing a written guarantee to not hold a memorial for Ali Chebieshat.
At the time of writing, Sayed Khaled Mousawi’s family had not yet been taken to the site of his burial.
Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi were sentenced to death on 9 September 2013 by a Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz on the charge of “enmity against God”. The Revolutionary Court is understood to have handed down the sentence based on the men’s forced “confessions” to their role in the explosion of a natural gas pipeline close to their native village, despite the director of the state-owned Khuzestan Gas Company describing the explosion as an accident.
While they never received a written verdict, the family members of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi had been informed informally by an official in the Revolutionary Courtwww.Ekurd.net of Ahwaz on 1 May that the men’s sentences had been upheld by the Supreme Court. Three weeks later on 19 May, they learned, through an informal conversation with a Ministry of Intelligence employee that the men would be executed on 22 May 2014. However, when both families went to the Ministry of Intelligence office in Ahvaz on 22 May 2014 for information about the fate of the men, the Ministry of Intelligence officials denied even having them in custody.
According to the UN Human Rights Committee persisting uncertainty of the circumstances that led to [an] execution, as well as the location of the grave; the complete secrecy surrounding the date of the execution and the place of burial, as well as the refusal to hand over the body for burial have the effect of intimidating or punishing the family by intentionally leaving it in a state of uncertainty and mental distress.� The Committee has viewed such treatment as inhuman treatment of the family members in violation of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.
Ali Chebieshat and Sayad Khaled Mousavi were arrested in November 2012 and taken to a Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Ahvaz. They were held in solitary confinement in a Ministry of Intelligence detention centre with no access to the external world for over seven months. Amnesty International understands that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated during this period. In court, the two men denied all the charges brought against them and their allegations of torture or other ill-treatment are not known to have been investigated.
In June or July 2013, Ministry of Intelligence officials told the men’s families that they could meet with the detainees in a mosque in the village of Jarieh. When they arrived at the mosque, the families realized that the room was equipped with cameras. Amnesty International understands that they were told that if they agreed to be filmed while watching their relatives’ recorded “confessions”, the authorities would consider reducing their punishments. They were not told that the recorded footage would be aired on national TV. Ali Chebieshat’s family members, who refused to be filmed, were apparently contacted by Ministry of Intelligence officials a few months later and coerced into being filmed or risk him being executed. In November 2013, Iran’s state-controlled Press TV and Channel 3 of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting aired a “documentary” called “Lost in Darkness” in which they showed the “confessions” of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi and the footage of the family members.
Two other Ahwazi Arab men, Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Sha’bani Nejad were executed in secret at the end of January 2014 after they had been transferred to an undisclosed location. Their families were told by an official from the Ministry of Intelligence on 29 January 2014 that the two men had been executed and buried a few days earlier. Amnesty International understands that those men’s families were also not told the exact date of the executions, either in advance or after they had taken place, and have not received the men’s bodies. The official told the families they were not permitted to hold a public memorial for the two men and had only 24 hours in which to hold a private service. Three other Ahwazi Arab men, Mohammad Ali Amouri, Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka, who had been sentenced to death along with them, remain at risk of execution.
Iran remains the second largest executioner in the world, after China. In 2013, according to Amnesty International figures, the Iranian authorities officially acknowledged 369 executions. However, reliable sources have reported that hundreds of additional executions took place in 2013, bringing the possible total to over 700. According to Amnesty International, as of 10 June, 157 executions during 2014 have been acknowledged by the authorities or state-sanctioned media, while reliable sources have reported at least 197 additional executions.
Case No. 2120/2011, Vladislav Kovalev et al. v. Belarus, views adopted on 29 October 2012, UN document CCPR/C/106/D/2120/2011, para. 11.10.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Amnesty
Amnesty calls on Iran to halt execution of 33 Kurds 13.6.2014
Amnesty International.
June 13, 2014
LONDON,— The Iranian authorities should quash the death sentences of 33 Sunni Muslim men, including possibly a juvenile offender, convicted of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), and impose an immediate moratorium on all executions, 18 human rights organizations and one prominent human rights lawyer said today. The call comes amid serious concerns about the fairness of the legal proceedings that led to the men’s convictions and the high number of executions reported in Iran during the last year, including the June 1, 2014 hanging of a political dissident, Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, on the same charge.
Information the rights groups gathered suggests that most of the men were arrested by Intelligence Ministry officials in the western province of Kordestan [Iranian Kurdistan region]www.Ekurd.net in 2009 and 2010, and held in solitary confinement during their pretrial detention for several months without access to a lawyer or relatives. They are believed to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated during that time.
Thirty one of them were tried by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, while one was tried by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran and another by a branch of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj [Sne, Iranian Kurdistan]. They were sentenced to death after being convicted of vaguely worded national security offenses including “gathering and colluding against national security,” “spreading propaganda against the system,” “membership in Salafist groups," “corruption on earth,” and “enmity against God.” The latter two charges can carry the death penalty.
These vaguely worded offenses in Iran's Islamic Penal Code do not meet the requirements for clarity and precision that international law outlines for criminal law. The authorities, routinely invoke them to arrest and imprison people who have peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of religion, expression, association, and assembly, or to accuse activists of supporting violent or armed opposition groups without evidence, the rights groups said.
Information gathered by the rights groups suggests that all of the men deny any involvement in armed or violent activities and maintain that they were targeted solely because they practiced or promoted their faith, such as taking part in religious seminars and distributing religious reading materials. Sunni Muslims are a minority in Iran, where most Muslims follow the Shia branch of Islam. Most Iranian Sunnis are from the Kurdish and Baluch minorities, and have long complained of state discrimination against them in both law and practice.
Recent changes to Iran’s penal code require the judiciary to review the cases of the 33 men, and vacate their death sentences on the charge of “enmity against God” if they had not personally resorted to the use of arms. The execution of Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, despite no evidence being presented to the court that he had used arms, suggests that Iranian authorities appear not to implement new provisions of the penal code that could save the lives of these 33 men, and others on death row on the charge of “enmity against God.”
According to his national identity card, at least one of the defendants, Borzan Nasrollahzadeh, is believed to have been under 18 at the time of his alleged offense, which would prohibit his execution under international law, including under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a party.
Among the group are four men -- Hamed Ahmadi, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani and Kamal Molaee -- accused of killing Mullah Mohammad Sheikh al-Islam, a senior Sunni cleric with ties to the Iranian authorities. The men have denied the accusation, saying that they were arrested between June and July 2009, several months before the sheikh’s killing, in September. The Supreme Court upheld the death sentences in September 2013, and the sentences have been sent to the Office for the Implementation of Sentences, the official body in charge of carrying out executions. The men are considered to be at imminent risk of execution.
The Supreme Court also confirmed the death sentences of four other members of the group -- Seyed Jamal Mousavi, Abdorahman Sangani, Sedigh Mohammadi and Seyed Hadi Hosseini, the rights groups reported. The other 25 men remain on death row pending review by the Supreme Court. Most of them are believed to be held in the Raja’i Shahr and Ghezel Hesar prisons in the city of Karaj. One, Seyed Jamal Mousavi, is reportedly in Sanandaj Prison in Kordestan province.
The rights groups are concerned that authorities sentenced the 33 men to death after trials during which basic safeguards, such as rights of defense, were disregarded, in contravention of international fair trial standards. Information gathered by the groups indicates that at least some of the men were denied access to a lawyer of their own choosing before and during their trials, in breach of Article 35 of the Iranian Constitution, which guarantees the right to counsel.
Their court-appointed lawyers were not allowed to see them in prison and did not have access to their files, according to information gathered by the groups. A few of the men have alleged that they met their lawyers for the first time a few minutes before the start of their trials. The court proceedings were held behind closed doors and reportedly lasted only between 10 to 30 minutes.
Some of the men also alleged that the judiciary handed down their death sentences based on incriminating statements they were forced to sign under torture and other ill-treatment, in violation of Article 38 of the Iranian Constitution, which prohibits all forms of torture “for the purpose of obtaining confessions.” Several alleged in open letters that they were physically and psychologically abused during their detention. One of the men, Shahram Ahmadi, wrote:
“Officers of the Revolutionary Guards kicked me in the head and face, causing my nose and head to break…I did not receive any treatment for my broken nose…and I currently have breathing difficulties as a result… [My] interrogator knew that I had been injured [in a previous incident of mistreatment]. He purposely punched me in my stomach and I began bleeding heavily from my old wounds. I was hospitalized in Sanandaj Hospital under a fake name... later my wounds became infected but they refused to give me medication.”
The rights groups have found no information indicating that there was any investigation into these allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, contrary to Iran’s domestic law and international law. Article 578 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code provides for the punishment of officials who torture people to obtain confessions. Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a party, prohibits the use of torture and other ill-treatment.
The irregularities reported in the men’s trials would also violate the fair trial provisions of Article 14 of the ICCPR, which include the presumption of innocence, adequate time and facilities to prepare one’s defense and to communicate with a lawyer of one’s choosing, and not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess guilt. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that: “In cases of trials leading to the imposition of the death penalty scrupulous respect of the guarantees of fair trial is particularly important.”
In view of the apparently flawed legal proceedings, these 18 human rights groups and one prominent human rights lawyer urge the Iranian authorities to immediately halt the execution of these men and quash their sentences. Authorities should, at the very least, grant these men retrials in proceedings that comply with international standards of fair trial, without recourse to the death penalty.
The 33 men are, in an alphabetical order: Hamed Ahmadi, Shahram Ahmadi, Alam Barmashti, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani, Seyed Shaho Ebrahimi, Varia Ghaderifard, Mohammad Gharibi, Seyed Abdol Hadi Hosseini, Farzad Honarjo, Mohammad Keyvan Karimi, Taleb Maleki, Kamal Molaee, Pouria Mohammadi, Keyvan Momenifard, Sedigh Mohammadi, Seyed Jamal Mousavi, Teymour Naderizadeh, Farshid Naseri, Ahmad Nasiri, Borzan Nasrollahzadeh, Idris Nemati, Omid Peyvand, Bahman Rahimi, Mokhtar Rahimi, Mohammadyavar Rahimi, Abdorahman Sangani, Amjad Salehi, Behrouz Shahnazari, Arash Sharifi, Kaveh Sharifi, Farzad Shahnazari, and Kaveh Veysi.
Iran remains the second largest executioner in the world, after China. In 2013, according to Amnesty International figures, the Iranian authorities officially acknowledged 369 executions. However, reliable sources have reported that hundreds of additional executions took place in 2013, bringing the total to over 700. According to Amnesty International, as of May 25, 151 executions during 2014 have been acknowledged by the authorities or state-sanctioned media, while reliable sources have reported at least 180 additional executions, for a total of 331.
The rights groups are:
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Justice for Iran
Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation
Arseh Sevom
Association for Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran
Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran-Geneva (KMMK-G)
Baloch Human Rights Organization
Center for Combating Racism & Discrimination against Arabs in Iran
Centre for Supporters of Human Rights
Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM)
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
Iran Human Rights
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Step by Step to Stop Death Penalty (LEGAM)
Mehrangiz Kar
Nobel Women’s Initiative
Siamak Pourzand Foundation
United for Iran
For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:
United for Iran
Director - Firuzeh Mahmoudi
firuzeh@united4iran.org
+1 510 435 4131
Amnesty International
International Press Office
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7413 5566 Phone: +44 (0) 7778 472 126 Email: press@amnesty.org
Human Rights Watch
In New Your, Faraz Sanei (English, Persian)
+1-212-216-1290; or +1-310-428-0153 (mobile); or saneif@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @farazsanei
In Washington, DC, Joe Stork (English): +1-202-299-4925 (mobile); or storkj@hrw.org In Cairo, Tamara Alrifai (English, Arabic, French, Spanish): +20-122-751-2450 (mobile); or alrifat@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @TamaraAlrifai
Amnesty International June 12, 2014.
Amnesty International
LONDON,— Amnesty International, Public statement, 14 June 2014. AI Index: MDE 13/035/2014
Four Sunni Kurdish prisoners on death row, Hamed Ahmadi, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani and Kamal Molaee, have been transferred to solitary confinement and are scheduled to be executed on Sunday 15 June on the charge of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), only days after reports of the secret execution of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi on the same charge, warned Amnesty International.
Amnesty International calls on the authorities not to execute Hamed Ahmadi, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani and Kamal Molaee and immediately impose a moratorium on all executions.
The families of the four men were called on 13 June to visit their relatives for the last time before their death sentence will be implemented in Rajae Shahr prison on 15 June. The four are accused of killing Mullah Mohammad Sheikh al-Islam, a senior Sunni cleric with ties to the Iranian authorities. The men deny the accusation, saying that they had been arrested between June and July 2009, several months before the sheikh’s killing in September 2009, and that they have been targeted solely because they practiced or promoted their faith, such as taking part in Sunni religious seminars and distributing Sunni reading materials. The Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences in September 2013, and the sentences had been sent to the Office for the Implementation of Sentences, the official body in charge of carrying out executions.
The authorities sentenced the four men to death after trials during which basic safeguards, such as rights of defense, were disregarded, in contravention of international fair trial standards
The organization’ call comes amid reports of the secret executions of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi, two members of Iran’s Ahwazi minority who had been held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance since March 2014.
Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi families learned on 12 June 2014 that the men had been executed. The circumstances surrounding the executions remain shrouded in secrecy as the families have been told neither about the date nor the place at which the executions took place, in violation of Iranian law which requires lawyers and families to be notified of scheduled executions 48 hours in advance. The authorities have never even provided the men’s families and lawyer with the verdict sentencing the two men to death.
On 12 June 2014, the brother and son of Ali Chebieshat were told to report to the Ministry of Intelligence office in Ahvaz, the capital of the Province of Khuzestan in southern Iran. They learned of Ali Chebieshat’s execution only after they were driven to a cemetery in Ramhormozz, a city more than 200 km away from the hometown of Ali Chebieshat in Kaab Khalaf Mosallam, Shush, Khuzestan, and shown an unmarked grave presented to them as the grave of Ali Chebieshat. The family of Sayed Khaled Mousawi were told by the Ministry of Intelligence office in Ahvaz that they would be taken to his burial location on 13 June 2014. Both families were warned against holding memorials for their executed relatives.
Later the same day, people in the home village of Ali Chebieshat who learned of his death went to the family home to mourn. Shortly thereafter, plainclothes agents from the Ministry of Intelligence reportedly arrived, and dispersed the informal gathering and arrested Ali Chebieshat’s brother and son. Both men were subsequently released on 13 June 2014 after providing a written guarantee to not hold a memorial for Ali Chebieshat.
At the time of writing, Sayed Khaled Mousawi’s family had not yet been taken to the site of his burial.
Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi were sentenced to death on 9 September 2013 by a Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz on the charge of “enmity against God”. The Revolutionary Court is understood to have handed down the sentence based on the men’s forced “confessions” to their role in the explosion of a natural gas pipeline close to their native village, despite the director of the state-owned Khuzestan Gas Company describing the explosion as an accident.
While they never received a written verdict, the family members of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi had been informed informally by an official in the Revolutionary Courtwww.Ekurd.net of Ahwaz on 1 May that the men’s sentences had been upheld by the Supreme Court. Three weeks later on 19 May, they learned, through an informal conversation with a Ministry of Intelligence employee that the men would be executed on 22 May 2014. However, when both families went to the Ministry of Intelligence office in Ahvaz on 22 May 2014 for information about the fate of the men, the Ministry of Intelligence officials denied even having them in custody.
According to the UN Human Rights Committee persisting uncertainty of the circumstances that led to [an] execution, as well as the location of the grave; the complete secrecy surrounding the date of the execution and the place of burial, as well as the refusal to hand over the body for burial have the effect of intimidating or punishing the family by intentionally leaving it in a state of uncertainty and mental distress.� The Committee has viewed such treatment as inhuman treatment of the family members in violation of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.
Ali Chebieshat and Sayad Khaled Mousavi were arrested in November 2012 and taken to a Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Ahvaz. They were held in solitary confinement in a Ministry of Intelligence detention centre with no access to the external world for over seven months. Amnesty International understands that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated during this period. In court, the two men denied all the charges brought against them and their allegations of torture or other ill-treatment are not known to have been investigated.
In June or July 2013, Ministry of Intelligence officials told the men’s families that they could meet with the detainees in a mosque in the village of Jarieh. When they arrived at the mosque, the families realized that the room was equipped with cameras. Amnesty International understands that they were told that if they agreed to be filmed while watching their relatives’ recorded “confessions”, the authorities would consider reducing their punishments. They were not told that the recorded footage would be aired on national TV. Ali Chebieshat’s family members, who refused to be filmed, were apparently contacted by Ministry of Intelligence officials a few months later and coerced into being filmed or risk him being executed. In November 2013, Iran’s state-controlled Press TV and Channel 3 of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting aired a “documentary” called “Lost in Darkness” in which they showed the “confessions” of Ali Chebieshat and Sayed Khaled Mousawi and the footage of the family members.
Two other Ahwazi Arab men, Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Sha’bani Nejad were executed in secret at the end of January 2014 after they had been transferred to an undisclosed location. Their families were told by an official from the Ministry of Intelligence on 29 January 2014 that the two men had been executed and buried a few days earlier. Amnesty International understands that those men’s families were also not told the exact date of the executions, either in advance or after they had taken place, and have not received the men’s bodies. The official told the families they were not permitted to hold a public memorial for the two men and had only 24 hours in which to hold a private service. Three other Ahwazi Arab men, Mohammad Ali Amouri, Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka, who had been sentenced to death along with them, remain at risk of execution.
Iran remains the second largest executioner in the world, after China. In 2013, according to Amnesty International figures, the Iranian authorities officially acknowledged 369 executions. However, reliable sources have reported that hundreds of additional executions took place in 2013, bringing the possible total to over 700. According to Amnesty International, as of 10 June, 157 executions during 2014 have been acknowledged by the authorities or state-sanctioned media, while reliable sources have reported at least 197 additional executions.
Case No. 2120/2011, Vladislav Kovalev et al. v. Belarus, views adopted on 29 October 2012, UN document CCPR/C/106/D/2120/2011, para. 11.10.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Amnesty
Amnesty calls on Iran to halt execution of 33 Kurds 13.6.2014
Amnesty International.
June 13, 2014
LONDON,— The Iranian authorities should quash the death sentences of 33 Sunni Muslim men, including possibly a juvenile offender, convicted of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), and impose an immediate moratorium on all executions, 18 human rights organizations and one prominent human rights lawyer said today. The call comes amid serious concerns about the fairness of the legal proceedings that led to the men’s convictions and the high number of executions reported in Iran during the last year, including the June 1, 2014 hanging of a political dissident, Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, on the same charge.
Information the rights groups gathered suggests that most of the men were arrested by Intelligence Ministry officials in the western province of Kordestan [Iranian Kurdistan region]www.Ekurd.net in 2009 and 2010, and held in solitary confinement during their pretrial detention for several months without access to a lawyer or relatives. They are believed to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated during that time.
Thirty one of them were tried by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, while one was tried by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran and another by a branch of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj [Sne, Iranian Kurdistan]. They were sentenced to death after being convicted of vaguely worded national security offenses including “gathering and colluding against national security,” “spreading propaganda against the system,” “membership in Salafist groups," “corruption on earth,” and “enmity against God.” The latter two charges can carry the death penalty.
These vaguely worded offenses in Iran's Islamic Penal Code do not meet the requirements for clarity and precision that international law outlines for criminal law. The authorities, routinely invoke them to arrest and imprison people who have peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of religion, expression, association, and assembly, or to accuse activists of supporting violent or armed opposition groups without evidence, the rights groups said.
Information gathered by the rights groups suggests that all of the men deny any involvement in armed or violent activities and maintain that they were targeted solely because they practiced or promoted their faith, such as taking part in religious seminars and distributing religious reading materials. Sunni Muslims are a minority in Iran, where most Muslims follow the Shia branch of Islam. Most Iranian Sunnis are from the Kurdish and Baluch minorities, and have long complained of state discrimination against them in both law and practice.
Recent changes to Iran’s penal code require the judiciary to review the cases of the 33 men, and vacate their death sentences on the charge of “enmity against God” if they had not personally resorted to the use of arms. The execution of Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, despite no evidence being presented to the court that he had used arms, suggests that Iranian authorities appear not to implement new provisions of the penal code that could save the lives of these 33 men, and others on death row on the charge of “enmity against God.”
According to his national identity card, at least one of the defendants, Borzan Nasrollahzadeh, is believed to have been under 18 at the time of his alleged offense, which would prohibit his execution under international law, including under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a party.
Among the group are four men -- Hamed Ahmadi, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani and Kamal Molaee -- accused of killing Mullah Mohammad Sheikh al-Islam, a senior Sunni cleric with ties to the Iranian authorities. The men have denied the accusation, saying that they were arrested between June and July 2009, several months before the sheikh’s killing, in September. The Supreme Court upheld the death sentences in September 2013, and the sentences have been sent to the Office for the Implementation of Sentences, the official body in charge of carrying out executions. The men are considered to be at imminent risk of execution.
The Supreme Court also confirmed the death sentences of four other members of the group -- Seyed Jamal Mousavi, Abdorahman Sangani, Sedigh Mohammadi and Seyed Hadi Hosseini, the rights groups reported. The other 25 men remain on death row pending review by the Supreme Court. Most of them are believed to be held in the Raja’i Shahr and Ghezel Hesar prisons in the city of Karaj. One, Seyed Jamal Mousavi, is reportedly in Sanandaj Prison in Kordestan province.
The rights groups are concerned that authorities sentenced the 33 men to death after trials during which basic safeguards, such as rights of defense, were disregarded, in contravention of international fair trial standards. Information gathered by the groups indicates that at least some of the men were denied access to a lawyer of their own choosing before and during their trials, in breach of Article 35 of the Iranian Constitution, which guarantees the right to counsel.
Their court-appointed lawyers were not allowed to see them in prison and did not have access to their files, according to information gathered by the groups. A few of the men have alleged that they met their lawyers for the first time a few minutes before the start of their trials. The court proceedings were held behind closed doors and reportedly lasted only between 10 to 30 minutes.
Some of the men also alleged that the judiciary handed down their death sentences based on incriminating statements they were forced to sign under torture and other ill-treatment, in violation of Article 38 of the Iranian Constitution, which prohibits all forms of torture “for the purpose of obtaining confessions.” Several alleged in open letters that they were physically and psychologically abused during their detention. One of the men, Shahram Ahmadi, wrote:
“Officers of the Revolutionary Guards kicked me in the head and face, causing my nose and head to break…I did not receive any treatment for my broken nose…and I currently have breathing difficulties as a result… [My] interrogator knew that I had been injured [in a previous incident of mistreatment]. He purposely punched me in my stomach and I began bleeding heavily from my old wounds. I was hospitalized in Sanandaj Hospital under a fake name... later my wounds became infected but they refused to give me medication.”
The rights groups have found no information indicating that there was any investigation into these allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, contrary to Iran’s domestic law and international law. Article 578 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code provides for the punishment of officials who torture people to obtain confessions. Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a party, prohibits the use of torture and other ill-treatment.
The irregularities reported in the men’s trials would also violate the fair trial provisions of Article 14 of the ICCPR, which include the presumption of innocence, adequate time and facilities to prepare one’s defense and to communicate with a lawyer of one’s choosing, and not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess guilt. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that: “In cases of trials leading to the imposition of the death penalty scrupulous respect of the guarantees of fair trial is particularly important.”
In view of the apparently flawed legal proceedings, these 18 human rights groups and one prominent human rights lawyer urge the Iranian authorities to immediately halt the execution of these men and quash their sentences. Authorities should, at the very least, grant these men retrials in proceedings that comply with international standards of fair trial, without recourse to the death penalty.
The 33 men are, in an alphabetical order: Hamed Ahmadi, Shahram Ahmadi, Alam Barmashti, Jahangir Dehghani, Jamshid Dehghani, Seyed Shaho Ebrahimi, Varia Ghaderifard, Mohammad Gharibi, Seyed Abdol Hadi Hosseini, Farzad Honarjo, Mohammad Keyvan Karimi, Taleb Maleki, Kamal Molaee, Pouria Mohammadi, Keyvan Momenifard, Sedigh Mohammadi, Seyed Jamal Mousavi, Teymour Naderizadeh, Farshid Naseri, Ahmad Nasiri, Borzan Nasrollahzadeh, Idris Nemati, Omid Peyvand, Bahman Rahimi, Mokhtar Rahimi, Mohammadyavar Rahimi, Abdorahman Sangani, Amjad Salehi, Behrouz Shahnazari, Arash Sharifi, Kaveh Sharifi, Farzad Shahnazari, and Kaveh Veysi.
Iran remains the second largest executioner in the world, after China. In 2013, according to Amnesty International figures, the Iranian authorities officially acknowledged 369 executions. However, reliable sources have reported that hundreds of additional executions took place in 2013, bringing the total to over 700. According to Amnesty International, as of May 25, 151 executions during 2014 have been acknowledged by the authorities or state-sanctioned media, while reliable sources have reported at least 180 additional executions, for a total of 331.
The rights groups are:
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Justice for Iran
Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation
Arseh Sevom
Association for Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran
Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran-Geneva (KMMK-G)
Baloch Human Rights Organization
Center for Combating Racism & Discrimination against Arabs in Iran
Centre for Supporters of Human Rights
Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM)
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
Iran Human Rights
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Step by Step to Stop Death Penalty (LEGAM)
Mehrangiz Kar
Nobel Women’s Initiative
Siamak Pourzand Foundation
United for Iran
For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:
United for Iran
Director - Firuzeh Mahmoudi
firuzeh@united4iran.org
+1 510 435 4131
Amnesty International
International Press Office
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7413 5566 Phone: +44 (0) 7778 472 126 Email: press@amnesty.org
Human Rights Watch
In New Your, Faraz Sanei (English, Persian)
+1-212-216-1290; or +1-310-428-0153 (mobile); or saneif@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @farazsanei
In Washington, DC, Joe Stork (English): +1-202-299-4925 (mobile); or storkj@hrw.org In Cairo, Tamara Alrifai (English, Arabic, French, Spanish): +20-122-751-2450 (mobile); or alrifat@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @TamaraAlrifai
Amnesty International June 12, 2014.
East Kurdistan Defence Forces Established
East Kurdistan Defence Forces YRK established
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/east-kurdistan-defence-forces-yrk-established.htm
The East Kurdistan Forces (HRK) has held its 3rd conference, announcing it is changing its name to YRK.
The HRK, also known as the military wing of PJAK, discussed recent developments in Kurdistan and in the Middle East at its 3rd conference. A decision was taken to undertake a name change and to reorganise the force as the defence force of the recently established Community of Democracy and Freedom of East Kurdistan(KODAR). In accordance with this the name of the East Kurdistan Forces was changed to East Kurdistan Defence Forces (YRK).
Other decisions taken at the conference are as follows:
-The East Kurdistan Defence Forces are based on the principle of legitimate defence. It will not launch an attack unless attacked. It will respond in a determined manner to attacks.
-The YRK is the defence force of KODAR and its command will be its Command Council.
-YRK is not affiliated to any party or movement
-Freedom of women is a fundamental principal of the YRK
-YRK supports the ongoing ceasefire between the Kurdish freedom movement and the Iranian state
-YRK also sees itself as a defence force of nature and will wage a struggle against environmental destruction
-YRK evaluates itself as the heir apparent of the freedom struggle
-YRK calls on all the young people of East Kurdistan to join the ranks of the YRK to protect their existence, identity and culture
- YRK calls on village guards armed by the Iranian regime to give up their arms and take the side of the people.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/east-kurdistan-defence-forces-yrk-established.htm
The East Kurdistan Forces (HRK) has held its 3rd conference, announcing it is changing its name to YRK.
The HRK, also known as the military wing of PJAK, discussed recent developments in Kurdistan and in the Middle East at its 3rd conference. A decision was taken to undertake a name change and to reorganise the force as the defence force of the recently established Community of Democracy and Freedom of East Kurdistan(KODAR). In accordance with this the name of the East Kurdistan Forces was changed to East Kurdistan Defence Forces (YRK).
Other decisions taken at the conference are as follows:
-The East Kurdistan Defence Forces are based on the principle of legitimate defence. It will not launch an attack unless attacked. It will respond in a determined manner to attacks.
-The YRK is the defence force of KODAR and its command will be its Command Council.
-YRK is not affiliated to any party or movement
-Freedom of women is a fundamental principal of the YRK
-YRK supports the ongoing ceasefire between the Kurdish freedom movement and the Iranian state
-YRK also sees itself as a defence force of nature and will wage a struggle against environmental destruction
-YRK evaluates itself as the heir apparent of the freedom struggle
-YRK calls on all the young people of East Kurdistan to join the ranks of the YRK to protect their existence, identity and culture
- YRK calls on village guards armed by the Iranian regime to give up their arms and take the side of the people.
Kurdish Woman Loosing Sight in Iranian Prison
KURDISH WOMAN LOSING SIGHT IN IRANIAN PRISON: ZEYNAB JALALIAN
UA: 151/14 Index: MDE 13/033/2014 Iran Date: 16 June 2014
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL- URGENT ACTION
KURDISH WOMAN losing sight in Iranian prison
Zeynab Jalalian, a member of Iranian’s Kurdish minority, currently serving a life sentence in Kermanshah Prison, western Iran, is at risk of losing her eyesight and she is in urgent need of medical care.
Zeynab Jalalian has had eye problems for a number of years, possibly as a result of beatings she received during interrogations by the Iranian authorities. Her health situation has worsened and she may be losing her eyesight. On 8 April, she was transferred to the prison clinic in handcuffs and shackles to receive treatment for her eyes, but the prison authorities have repeatedly refused to allow her access to an eye specialist outside of Kermanshah Prison. It is not clear whether the prison clinic is able to provide Zeynab Jalalian with the medical care she requires.
Zeynab Jalalian was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in January 2009 by the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court for her alleged membership of Party For Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) , an armed Kurdish opposition group. Before that she had spent eight months in pre-trial detention in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility, where she says she was tortured. She was not granted access to a lawyer during her trial, which she says lasted only a few minutes. Zeynab Jalalian death sentence was commuted and reduced to life imprisonment in late November 2011.
Zeynab Jalalian’s family have not been able to visit her for more than a year and they are only allowed to have two minute phone conversations with her once a week. Zeynab Jalalian formally requested prison leave in January 2014, but she has said that the Iranian authorities have asked her to do a forced televised “confession”, which may be a prerequisite for prison leave but she has refused to do so.
http://www.irannewsupdate.com/news/human-rights/1283-document-iran-kurdish-woman-losing-sight-in-iranian-prison-zeynab-jalalian.html
Some further information on Zeynab:
https://www.facebook.com/SaveZeinabJalalian
UA: 151/14 Index: MDE 13/033/2014 Iran Date: 16 June 2014
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL- URGENT ACTION
KURDISH WOMAN losing sight in Iranian prison
Zeynab Jalalian, a member of Iranian’s Kurdish minority, currently serving a life sentence in Kermanshah Prison, western Iran, is at risk of losing her eyesight and she is in urgent need of medical care.
Zeynab Jalalian has had eye problems for a number of years, possibly as a result of beatings she received during interrogations by the Iranian authorities. Her health situation has worsened and she may be losing her eyesight. On 8 April, she was transferred to the prison clinic in handcuffs and shackles to receive treatment for her eyes, but the prison authorities have repeatedly refused to allow her access to an eye specialist outside of Kermanshah Prison. It is not clear whether the prison clinic is able to provide Zeynab Jalalian with the medical care she requires.
Zeynab Jalalian was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in January 2009 by the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court for her alleged membership of Party For Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) , an armed Kurdish opposition group. Before that she had spent eight months in pre-trial detention in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility, where she says she was tortured. She was not granted access to a lawyer during her trial, which she says lasted only a few minutes. Zeynab Jalalian death sentence was commuted and reduced to life imprisonment in late November 2011.
Zeynab Jalalian’s family have not been able to visit her for more than a year and they are only allowed to have two minute phone conversations with her once a week. Zeynab Jalalian formally requested prison leave in January 2014, but she has said that the Iranian authorities have asked her to do a forced televised “confession”, which may be a prerequisite for prison leave but she has refused to do so.
http://www.irannewsupdate.com/news/human-rights/1283-document-iran-kurdish-woman-losing-sight-in-iranian-prison-zeynab-jalalian.html
Some further information on Zeynab:
https://www.facebook.com/SaveZeinabJalalian
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