Latest news with #PJAK
Rudaw Net
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Iran calls PKK decision to disband ‘important step'
Also in Middle East Syrian president sends FM to Arab League summit in Baghdad Turkey says its anti-PKK operations continue despite progress in peace process Iraq, Jordan, Egypt discuss tripartite cooperation mechanisms Trump to end US sanctions on Damascus, greet Syria's Sharaa in Saudi Arabia A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Tehran welcomes the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) decision to dissolve itself and lay down arms, calling the move 'an important step toward renouncing violence and strengthening security.' The PKK on Monday announced its dissolution and the end of its armed struggle against the Turkish state, marking what it described as a step toward a peaceful resolution to the decades-long conflict with Ankara. The announcement followed a party congress held from May 5 to 7 to consider the late February call from jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to disarm, dissolve the group, and pursue a political struggle. 'We consider the statement announcing the dissolution of the PKK an important step toward renouncing violence and strengthening security, and we hope that the completion of this process will lead to enhanced stability and peace in Turkey and the region,' Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmael Baghaei said in a statement. Iran has been long struggling with Kurdish opposition groups of its own that, like Turkey, it has labeled 'terrorists.' The groups are the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK). They were based in the Kurdistan Region close to the border with Iran before they were moved away from the frontier as part of a 2023 security pact signed between Baghdad and Tehran. The PKK is not directly active in Iran, but PJAK, widely seen as its offshoot in Iran, has carried out attacks against Tehran and is banned in Iran. Iran often sentences Kurdish political prisoners to execution on charges of "baghi" armed rebellion for alleged membership in the PKK or other Kurdish opposition groups.
Al Arabiya
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Iran says Kurdish militant group PKK disbanding ‘important step'
Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday welcomed the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), calling it 'an important step towards rejecting violence and strengthening security.' 'We hope that the completion of this process will lead to the promotion of stability and peace in Turkey and the region,' Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement. The PKK, founded in the late 1970s by Abdullah Ocalan, on Monday announced its dissolution and the end of its four-decade armed struggle against Turkey. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the move, calling it an 'important decision for maintaining peace and fraternity' in the country. The PKK decision was also welcomed by top officials in Syria and Iraq, as well as the European Union and the United Nations. Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), a PKK offshoot founded in 2004, has been actively involved in operations against Iranian security forces over the past two decades. It has fought Iranian forces in ethnic Kurdish districts in mountainous areas along the Iran-Iraq border. The group, labelled a terrorist organization by Iran, Turkey and the US, sought self-determination through some degree of autonomy for Kurds in Iran. PJAK's most high-profile attack on Iran was in summer 2011, during a period of intense clashes between the militants and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The clashes led to the deaths of dozens of IRGC forces and over 100 militants, Iranian media reported at the time.
Rudaw Net
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
IRGC denies Kurdish prisoner release despite jail approval: Watchdog
Also in Iran Iran says to respond 'without hesitation' if attacked Iran arrests two over port blast, including senior government employee Hawraman marks centuries-old Komsay ceremony Nuclear talks must secure Iran's interests or be abandoned, says Khamenei aide A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) denied the conditional release of a Kurdish political prisoner despite the request being approved by the Yazd Central Prison after he served almost 17 years behind bars, a human rights watchdog reported on Sunday. 'Khaled Zamani - a Kurdish political prisoner, father of three daughters and one son, and a native of Khoy - remains deprived of both prison leave and conditional release, despite having served 6,151 days behind bars,' the Oslo-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization said. Zamani, on a 30-year prison sentence, has faced the 'ongoing denial of furlough by the IRGC's Intelligence Organization,' Hengaw added, with the latest refusal coming despite his conditional release having been approved by the Yazd Central Prison and the city's prosecutor. The denial by the IRGC comes despite 'the approval of Zamani's request by the Classification Council of Yazd Central Prison and the city's prosecutor.' He was arrested on July 1, 2008, by Iranian intelligence forces over charges of alleged membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK). PJAK was established in 2003 and is considered the Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but claims its links are only ideological. After its establishment in the Qandil Mountains - an area on the Kurdistan Region's border with Iran where the PKK is also headquartered - PJAK expanded its operations into the Kurdish areas of western Iran, recruiting hundreds of young men and fighting bloody battles with the IRGC. Zamani was sentenced by the Urmia Revolutionary Court to amputation of his left hand and right foot on charges of moharebeh, or enmity against God. Following an appeal, he was sentenced to 30 years in Yazd Central Prison, according to Hengaw. He has been denied furlough since then. Hengaw also reported that he has been subjected to severe physical and psychological torture during his imprisonment. Kurds and other ethnic minorities in Iran face systemic discrimination and disproportionately high rates of death sentences and executions, often on charges related to political activities such as baghi (armed rebellion) or moharebeh (enmity against God). Amnesty International's annual report, published in March, highlighted a sharp rise in executions in Iran in 2024, placing the country among the top three executioners globally. Iran, alongside Iraq and Saudi Arabia, accounted for 91 percent of all known executions worldwide. The report also censured Iranian authorities over their continued weaponization of the death penalty against dissidents, including those who participated in the Jin Jiyan Azadi (Women Life Freedom) protests and especially the minorities. In mid-September 2022, 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa (Zhina) Amini died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating Iran's compulsory hijab law. Her death sparked nationwide protests in Iran, the longest protest movement the country had seen in four decades.
