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A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- The Iranian regime continued efforts to suppress the nation’s latest round of civil unrest by kidnapping and jailing more activists and community leaders. Iranian authorities illegally detained, tortured, and forced false confessions from dozens of individuals in Iranian Kurdistan. Among the victims were an imam named Saifullah Husseini in Javanrud, Sierwan Mohammadi, an athlete named Sarko Mohammadzadeh, four college students in Sena, Iqbal Khodamoradi in Divandareh, Zaniar Yahyazadeh in Sawalaw, Siyawash Khohaq in Mehabad, Saeed and Omid Khaldian, Saeed and Omed Mohammadi in Qorveh, Mohammad, Ali Reza, Fatemer and Gulnaz Beigpour in Dehloran, and Sherko and Adel Jamshidi in Sarvabad. Iranian security forces also shot and arrested an athlete named Jalil Azizpour in Ilam. Furthermore, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported Ilam’s Islamic Revolutionary Court handed 22 people prison sentences ranging from two to five years for disrespecting the “Founder of the Islamic Republic” and current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Likewise, a court in Sardasht sentenced six Kurds to two years in prison and 70 lashes for participating in demonstrations. Meanwhile, dozens remain missing, including teens, after they were arrested by Iranian security forces. Concomitantly, Iranian authorities tortured a famous local activist named Mohammed Haji Rasolpour to death in Bokan. Hundreds attended Rasoulpour’s funeral and sang Kurdish songs. The Iranian regime also jailed a renowned Iranian actress named Taraneh Alidoosti for denouncing the public execution of protestors. Furthermore, several activists who recently escaped Iran claimed Iranian authorities are raping jailed women. CNN previously interviewed a Kurdish woman who was raped by Iranian authorities on November 21. Lastly, hundreds of Iranian activists that fled to Turkey are now facing deportation at the hands of Turkish authorities.
Iraq
- The U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (Da’esh) met with the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs to discuss efforts to reform the ministry and the formation of several new Peshmerga divisions. A senior Peshmerga commander told Rudaw the coalition informed Kurdish officials that “unity” between the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) 80th Peshmerga Brigade and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) 70th Peshmerga Brigade was a prerequisite for continued support. On December 14, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski met with Kurdish leaders to discuss the relationship between Baghdad and Erbil. The Iraqi government’s new cabinet recently approved the provision of two months’ worth of government salaries to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in a continuation of the prior government’s deal with Erbil. Separately, an abandoned Da’esh IED killed three children and wounded three others in Bashiqa.
- Iraq’s National Security Service raided the house of a Kurdish man named Abdul Qadir Sabah in Kirkuk’s Shoraw neighborhood and arrested him on December 14. Iraqi authorities then told Sabah’s family to retrieve his body from the hospital several hours after his arrest. The National Security Service claimed Sabah’s health deteriorated during his arrest, which resulted in his hospitalization and death. Sabah was initially arrested for social media comments after Iraqi authorities received an anonymous complaint. Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior began an inquiry into the incident after several Kurdish parties pressured the Iraqi government.
Syria
- Turkish forces continued attacking the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) despite Turkey’s decision to halt plans for a ground invasion of northeastern Syria in response to U.S. opposition. On Saturday, a Turkish drone killed three civilians, including a child, in Kobani’s Jalabiya subdistrict. Meanwhile, joint Turkish-Russian patrols resumed near Kobani after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially proposed Russia mediate efforts to normalize relations between Turkey and the Assad regime. Concurrently, the U.S. plans to build a new military base in Raqqa. American forces withdrew from the city when Turkey invaded northeastern Syria in 2019. At the same time, the U.S. praised the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for their ongoing efforts to deter Da’esh after they captured a Da’esh operative involved with smuggling Da’esh relatives out of al Hol camp. The SDF also announced the capture of a Da’esh Amir in Deir Ez Zor’s al Kasrah subdistrict on Monday. On Tuesday, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted three raids in eastern Syria, capturing several Da’esh terrorists.
Turkey
- During a protest held by the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) against the conditions of ill political prisoners, a Turkish police officer attacked a senior HDP leader Ferhat Encü and slapped him. The video went viral online, and the police arrested the journalist recording the assault. The HDP denounced the attack and said, “Neither our people nor we will forget this slap on Ferhat Encü,” describing the police officer as a “gang member.” The police have surrounded the HDP building in Istanbul since Sunday, preventing its leaders from holding any press conference. Separately, the police raided the offices of the Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK) and Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) after orders from the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor. The parties were raided on Monday after holding a celebratory event of the Kurdistan flag day on Saturday. “Although the Kurdistan flag was cited as the reason for the search, the police, with the order of the prosecutor’s office, collected all the computers, party official documents, files, posters and banners, books and magazines in our organizations and took them to the Diyarbakır Security Directorate.” read a statement by the Kurdish parties.