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Iran
- After the court’s decision to sentence a Kurdish man, Ramin Panahi, to death, the Iranian regime temporarily suspended his execution. On May 1, Amnesty international called the Iranian regime to halt the execution of Panahi since he had an “unfair trial.” Panahi’s family and lawyer repeatedly denied the accusation of the regime against Panahi as the regime charged him for “taking up arms against the state.” Panahi was injured by the Iranian regime’s guards last year when he was unarmed during an ambush by the regime against members of a Kurdish opposition party of Komala. Further, Panahi’s niece, Nishtiman Panahi, committed suicide due to stress from her uncle’s execution verdict, as her husband is also detained by the Iranian regime.
- The Iranian regime’s security forces, including the revolutionary guards, deployed in the Kurdish cities which held demonstrations and strikes by Kurdish businessmen and workers in the past three weeks. The demonstration started after the Islamic regime shut down a border crossing between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran which led to unemployment of tens of thousands of people. The security forces deployment came after the Kurdish population vowed to continue their demonstrations until the regime will reopen the border crossing. Simultaneously the regime’s security forces raided the houses of tens of Kurdish businessmen, activists, and border workers known as Kulbar in an attempt to stop them from striking. Most of the security deployment took place in Baneh city and the surrounding districts. Near the border crossing, the Iranian regime’s forces shot and killed one Kulbar in Piranshahr.
Iraq
- According to sources from the the Council of Ministers of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has made a decision to hold the presidential and the parminlantarin election in Kurdistan on September 30, 2018. This decision comes after the parliament delayed the elections last October. Meanwhile the parties continued their rallies for the May 12 Iraqi parliamentary elections.
- In a press conference the Iraqi oil minister announced the signing of a new agreement with British Petroleum (BP) to triple the oil production of Kirkuk’s oil fields. Kirkuk’s oil fields were under the control of the Kurdistan region before October 16, 2017 when the Iranian-backed militants attacked the province and removed the Kurdish Peshmerga forces from the Province. Kirkuk is disputed territory between the federal government and KRG. Regarding the oil disputed between the two sides, the Iraqi Federal court have postponed for a second time a hearing of a lawsuit by the Iraqi oil ministry against the KRG for independently selling oil. The postponement was announced on May 6 by the spokesperson of the court, Ayas al Samouk. He said: ”The Federal High Court decided, after the parties’ agreement, to postpone the case until the 3rd of next month.”
- On May 5 and due to rainfalls for hours, several neighborhoods suffered flooding in Duhok province. The floods caused the death of four people and damage to properties and vehicles. The flooding also damaged a camp for the displaced Yazidis in Dohuk. The rainfalls continued in the region until May 8 when floods affected Erbil city, the capital, resulting in disruption of traffic and damage to tens of vehicles. The heavy rainfalls are expected to continue in the region for another couple of days.
Syria
- The U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) cleared more villages of ISIS alongside the eastern border between Iraq and Syria near Deir Ez Zor. Last week the SDF operation against ISIS terrorists were in coordination with the Iraqi forces and the U.S. led coalition. The U.S. Presidential Envoy to counter ISIS Brett McGurk said: ”Syrian Democratic Forces making steady progress against ISIS terrorists holed up on the Syrian side of the Iraq border. SDF ops are being supported by Coalition & Iraqi air forces, as well as cross border artillery fires.” A commander of the SDF confirmed the coordination. He said: “The Iraqi forces were able to liberate the border area, which was the reason for the crossing of Daesh gangs for Syrian territory.” Gabriel also noted that co-operations with the Iraqi forces existed before since they have “a common goal” of countering the terror groups. The recent SDF advance included 3 miles by the Euphrates river on the border near Bakuz village in Deir Ez Zor countryside.
- After reports of kidnappings and killings of Kurds in Afrin by the Turkish-backed Jihadi groups, a Kurdish man was recently released by a ransom after he was tortured and jailed for 40 days. A 23 year old man Safkan Khalil from Afrin spoke about his time in jails belonging to Jihadi groups. The co-chair of the administration in the Afrin region, Hevi Mustafa, said they have not received any response of their letter calling the United Nations, the European Union, human rights organizations, and the League of Arab Nations to stop the displacement of the Kurds in Afrin by Turkey and its Jihad factions. Recently the U.S. spokesperson slammed Turkey over population transfers in Afrin.
Turkey
- On May 4 the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) announced the jailed former co-chair Selahattin Demirtas as their nominee for the upcoming Turkish elections on June 24. The HDP kicked off their campaign in a rally in Istanbul as their supporters chanted “Demirtas for President.” In a speech during the rally the HDP Co-chair Sezai Temelli said: “we will tour the country, telling people about the possibility to have a new life, a new Turkey. This possibility is provided by the HDP. We propose democracy and peace instead of war and dictatorship.” The HDP also called for Demirtas’s release to run his presidential campaign like the other candidates. On the same day of HDP’s rally for elections, the Turkish police detained severn members of the HDP including a former lawmaker. On the same day the Turkish police seized the passport of Temelli to prevent him from traveling outside Turkey. In an attempt to unite the Kurdish voice in the upcoming snap elections, Ahmed Turk, the Kurdish veteran politician, headed a delegation and visited HAK-PAR. Results of the meeting remained unannounced. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have made the decision for snap early presidential elections amid expectation of economic crises in the country.