Kurdistan's KRSC denies involvement in Al-Sulaymaniyah's handing over of Iranian activist
Shafaq News/The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) distanced itself from the actionsof security forces in Al-Sulaymaniyah following reports that a KurdishDemocratic Party of Iran (KDPI) member was handed over to Iranian authorities.
In astatement received by Shafaq News Agency, the council said that the PatrioticUnion of Kurdistan (PUK) had transferred Behzad Khosravi, a member of the KDPI,to Iran without the knowledge of the Kurdistan Region's Security Council.
"ThePUK has been running government and security institutions in Al-Sulaymaniyahunder party directives for some time," the statement added. "Theofficial institutions of the Kurdistan Region are not responsible for theillegal actions of the PUK's leadership and its entities."
Al-Sulaymaniyah'sinternal security forces (Asayish) reportedly handed over the Iranian Kurdishactivist, a member of a prominent opposition party, to Iranian authorities,according to the KDPI on Saturday.
The KDPI'saccount contradicts the Asayish statement on Friday, which claimed thatKhosravi had been detained last week for lacking residency papers inAl-Sulaymaniyah.
Thestatement added that Khosravi had no political affiliations in the KurdistanRegion and had requested to return to Iran after signing a legal document tothat effect. However, the KDPI asserted that Khosravi was a member of theparty, noting that he had been summoned twice by the Asayish before beingarrested and handed over to Iranian intelligence.
The partyfurther claimed that Khosravi, his mother, and his sister had valid residencypermits in Al-Sulaymaniyah and had legally lived in the city for over a decade.It also said that Khosravi was registered as a refugee with the UNHCR in theKurdistan Region of Iraq.
According tothe KDPI, Khosravi had been granted political asylum in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The KDPI,established in 1945, is the oldest Iranian Kurdish party and is considered aterrorist organization by Tehran, which has accused it and other Kurdish groupsin Iraqi Kurdistan of launching attacks on Iranian soil. In late 2023, afterseveral Iranian strikes in Iraq, Baghdad pledged to disarm these factions,evacuate their bases, and relocate them to camps.
Iran hasaccused these groups of inciting the protests that erupted in September 2022following the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested forviolating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code.
