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Iran
- Iran’s official coronavirus numbers reached 172,000 confirmed cases and 8,281 deaths last week, with cases counts rising since the reopening of the country began last month. The coronavirus pandemic also continues to hit Iranian Kurdistan particularly hard, as both Sardasht and Sanandaj have seen hundreds of new cases in recent weeks.
- The prominent Kurdish activist Zeynab Jalalian has become infected with the coronavirus while incarcerated. According to her father, the Iranian regime has denied her admission to a hospital and access to a doctor. Jalalian is the only female political prisoner serving a life sentence in Iran.
- Iranian authorities arrested a Kurdish environmental activist named Sohaib Saadi in Sanandaj on Saturday. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK), Iranian security forces arrested Saadi without a warrant and beat him during his arrest. Also, in Sanandaj, a Kurdish activist named Omed Karimian began serving a 30-month prison sentence for protesting the Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria last October.
- Iranian authorities killed three Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) and wounded eight last week. Last Tuesday, Iranian border guards killed a Kolbar near Chaldiran. On Thursday, Iranian security forces injured a Kolbar named Ali Maa’refi near Baneh. Iranian forces also ambushed a group of Kolbars near Sardasht on Saturday, killing one and wounding another. Iranian authorities then wounded four more Kolbars in the same area on Sunday, while two more Kolbars were injured near Saqqez. Finally, a Kolbar named Sharam Mustafapour died after being previously injured by Iranian security forces on May 28. The Iranian regime has now killed 25 Kolbars and wounded at least 61 in 2020.
Iraq
- Iraqi Kurdistan’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose for the second week in a row, and its coronavirus numbers now stand at 1,606 confirmed cases, 1,035 active cases, and 542 recoveries. at least 20 deaths were also reported last week, pushing the region’s total death count to 28. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and local authorities have responded to these developments by promoting social distancing and the use of masks, though they failed to reimplement lockdowns after facing opposition from citizens and business owners.
- The Council of Representatives of Iraq voted to approve seven new ministers for Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s cabinet on Saturday. Kurds were appointed to two posts, as Fuad Hussein of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) will now head Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Salar Abdul Sattar of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will oversee the Ministry of Justice. Kurdish ministers were previously selected to head the Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Housing, and Ministry of Public Works during the first round of voting.
- Iraqi military forces, backed by the US-led coalition, launched a new military campaign targeting ISIS (Da’esh) cells in Makhmour. The campaign is being coordinated with Peshmerga forces stationed north of Makhmour between Kirkuk and Erbil. Da’esh continues to launch attacks in the region known as the “Disputed Territories” and most recently released two kidnapped Kurdish brothers in Diyala after being paid a ransom.
Syria
- On June 4, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with direct support from the US-led coalition, launched an operation called “The Deterrence of Terrorism” along the Syria-Iraq border in Deir Ez Zor Governorate. The operation, which is also being coordinated with Iraqi security forces, is intended to counter increased Da’esh activity in Iraq and Syria and has resulted in the capture of 67 Da’esh terrorists so far.
- The bullet-ridden body of a 16-year-old Kurdish girl named Malik Khalil was found near Azaz on Saturday. Khalil was previously kidnapped by Turkish-backed groups in Afrin, and local Kurdish media outlets have accused the Sultan Murad group of her murder. Khalil’s death has also drawn the attention of numerous local human rights organizations and sparked protests in northeastern Syria.
- Hundreds of residents protested Turkey’s detention of dozens of civilians without trial in the Turkish-occupied Kurdish town of Tal Abyad. The protesters also called for Turkey and the Turkish proxy known as the “National Syrian Army” to disclose information on the fate of those detained.
- Arson attacks struck farmlands near Kobane, Giri Spi (Tal Abyad), and the Christian town of Tal Tamer last week. Local Kurds accused Turkish-backed jihadists of perpetrating the attacks, as some of the stricken lands are situated between SDF-administered territory and the Turkish-occupied zone.
Turkey
- Turkish police arrested two more Kurdish lawmakers after their parliamentary immunity was stripped. Leyla Guven, a senior Kurdish politician from Hakkari and Musa Farisoğulları, who hails from Diyarbakir (Amed), were detained after police raided their homes. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) denounced the arrests and described them as a “coup in parliament.” The HDP also blamed the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the arrests and called for protests across the country. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities arrested dozens of people in Adana and Amed for holding “illegal demonstrations.”