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Iran: Authorities asked to explain Kurdish
journalist's death
11.8.2006
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RFS, August 11 ,
- Reporters Without Borders today condemned the
death of Ayfer Serçe, a young Kurdish journalist and
activist, during an army operation against Kurdish
rebels on 24 July in Keleres, in the northwestern
province of Azarbayjan (Kurdistan-Iran), and called
on the Iranian authorities to provide an
explanation.
A Turkish national, Serçe worked for the Firat Haber
Ajansi (Euphrates News Agency - FHA) using the
pseudonym of Silan Aras. She had gone to Azarbayjan
in early July to investigate suicides by women in
the region, which has a sizeable Kurdish population.
“We call on the authorities to establish the facts
of this case,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We
do not yet know if her death was linked to her work
as a journalist but this possibility should
definitely not be ignored.”
The FHA has accused the Iranian military of killing
Serçe. It also reported that when her relatives went
to the hospital in the nearby town of Salmas with
the aim of collecting and repatriating her body,
they were told the Iranian authorities had taken it
away.
The family was also stopped and searched when they
arrived in the town.
Serçe is said to have been a supporter of the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed separatist
group that is outlawed in Turkey.
Iran has often been accused by Turkey of offering a
haven to the PKK and the Iranian security forces
have recently carried out several operations against
the group.
rsf org
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