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A weekly brief of events occurred in the Kurdistan regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Iran
- Islamic Revolutionary Courts sentenced a Kurdish man in Mehabad named Iskhan Fahim to seven and a half years in prison, a labor activist in Tehran named Foad Fathi to four years in prison, a protester in Bokan named Sadullah Rasolpour to nine months in prison, a protester in Saqqez named Ayob Jwanebpour to four years in prison, and an activist in Bokan named Hassan Mardani to three years in prison for “membership in a political party.” Additionally, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that four Kurdish imams in Piranshahr received sentences ranging from two to four years for supporting anti-government protests. The charges brought against the four imams included “disruption of national security.” Concurrently, Iranian security forces in Saqqez raided the home of a renowned hiker and former political prisoner named Fayegh Fousefi. Fousefi accused Iranian intelligence officers (Ettela’at) of orchestrating the raid in a social media post and revealed he was falsely summoned to a police station to discuss his vehicle’s involvement in an accident that never occurred.
- The European Parliament awarded Zhina Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom movement the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought during a ceremony on December 12. The Amini family’s attorney accepted the award on Amini’s behalf because Iranian authorities prohibited Amini’s parents and brother from traveling to the ceremony in Strasbourg. Amini became the fourth Kurd to be awarded the Sakharov Prize, which is awarded to those who defend human rights and freedom of thought, after Layla Zana, Nadia Murdad, and Lamiya Aji Bashar.
Iraq
- The U.S. Congress passed the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on December 14. The NDAA now awaits the president’s signature and includes air defense systems for Iraqi Kurdistan and training for Peshmerga forces. The decision to deploy air defense systems comes in response to dozens of attacks perpetrated by Iranian-backed militias against U.S. troops and Kurdish targets in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2018. The NDAA (Section 1266) also states the U.S. will train and equip Iraqi security forces to defend against missile, rocket, and drone attacks.
- On December 18, provincial elections were held across Iraq, excluding the Kurdistan Region, with an overall low turnout of 41%. According to the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), Kirkuk province saw the highest turnout at 66%, followed by Saladin at 59%, while the lowest turnout occurred in Maysan Governorate at 29%. Notably, the southern provinces, including Baghdad’s largest electoral district, experienced low participation due to a boycott called for by the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who instructed millions of his followers to abstain from voting. In Kirkuk, preliminary results indicated that Kurdish parties secured seven seats, Sunni Arabs won six seats, and Turkmen gained two seats. These results excluded the “special voting” of the security forces, constituting approximately 6% of the total votes. The fate of the quota seat for Christians, completing the 16th seat in the provincial council, remained unclear. It’s noteworthy that the electoral laws for Kirkuk require power-sharing among the various components, irrespective of the outcomes of the election. In Nineveh, Kurdish parties secured six seats, with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) winning four seats and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) securing two seats.
Syria
- Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) claimed it assassinated a Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander named Sherwan Hassan in eastern Deir ez Zor on December 5. Hassan was killed when an IED struck his vehicle. The SDF praised Hassan for his “sacrifices” during the ongoing fight against ISIS (Da’esh) and described his death as a “cowardly terrorist operation.”
- The 2024 NDAA includes $156 million for train and equip efforts supporting the ongoing fight against Da’esh in Syria. On a different note, the SDF announced it seized rocket launchers near Shaddai that were aimed at facilities housing U.S. troops. According to the SDF, the search that resulted in the seizure of the launchers came after “terrorists” endangered civilians by targeting two villages. Iranian-backed militias continue to claim attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, often under the moniker of the Islamic Resistance.
- According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Turkish-backed armed factions persisted in committing numerous violations against civilians in occupied Afrin last week. SOHR reported an incident where a man lost his life at the hands of the Turkish-backed Hamza Division. Additionally, the Turkmen Sultan Murad faction reportedly seized and indiscriminately chopped down dozens of olive trees owned by Kurds, contributing to an ongoing deforestation campaign. This unsettling situation unfolded alongside internal conflicts between various Turkish-backed factions in the occupied Azaz.
Turkey
- In preparation for Turkey’s local elections, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) has announced an expansion of its participation, with nominees in major Turkish provinces and cities, including those in the western part of the country. This decision follows a meeting of the party’s executive committee, convened amidst the extension of the candidacy deadline until the end of the current month. DEM’s spokesperson, Ayşegül Doğan, emphasized the party’s invitation to individuals who aspire to transform the city’s suburbs into a more equitable, livable, and democratic administration, urging all segments of society to support the party, stating, “We invite everyone who has the claim and goal of changing the suburbs of the city to the right to an equal, livable, and democratic administration. It’s time to repair, heal, and build.” On Monday, DEM (formerly HDP) released a report documenting attacks and rights violations against the party, revealing that 22,818 of its members have been arrested by the government since 2015. The detainees include 2,906 individuals in 203, among them 72 children and 60 provincial district administrators.