On Saturday, July 23rd, elements of Iranian-backed militias, who have occupied Kirkuk since 2017, kidnapped and tortured an off duty Kurdish Peshmerga named Ayman Abdi Jassem near Amerli subdistrict. The militants brutally assaulted Jassem and conducted insulting acts including shaving his mustache, against his Kakai beliefs.
Kidnapping Jassem and assaulting him is further evidence of the lawlessness that has taken place in the Kurdistani areas which have been occupied by the Iraqi government and Iranian-backed militias since October 16, 2017. Iranian-backed militias are a destabilizing factor in Kirkuk and the other Kurdistani areas they occupy. Their criminal acts include smuggling, drug dealing, kidnapping, assaulting and murdering innocent civilians. The Iraqi government is making the situation worse by doubling down on its Arabization policies in Kirkuk in an attempt to erase the Kurdish population.
We strongly condemn the inhumane and illegal behavior of the Iranian-backed militias and place the responsibility of arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators on the Iraqi government as they remain fugitives. The local and federal governments must also condemn this racist act against Jassem.
Sierwan Najmaldin Karim
President of the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI)
July 23rd, 2022