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Iran: Government guilty of new wave of
repression says Kurd leader 18.9.2007
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September 18, 2007
Brussels, -- A leading Kurdish politician has
accused the Iranian government of conducting a new
wave of repression against journalists and other
activists seeking greater human rights.
Hassan Sharafi, the deputy head of the Democratic
Party of Kurdistan (PDKI), said the government
reserved 'particular attention' for ethnic Kurds who
had always represented ' a thorn in the side' of the
regime.
Iranian Kurdistan has been for months the scene of
clashes between Iran's Revolutionary Guards and
guerrillas from the Iranian PJAK, which supports of
the nationalist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The Iranian government is accused of bombing
villages and arresting journalists, union officials
and other activists. It recently condemned to death
two journalists, Adnan Hassanpour and Hiwa Boutimar
and prominent union leader, Mahmoud Salehi. |
Hassan Sharafi, the deputy head of the
Iranian-Democratic Party of Kurdistan (PDKI) |
"The new repressive wave of arrests against the
Kurds that had imprisoned 15 journalists and several
human rights activists and the death sentence of
two, Boutimar and Hassanpour, demonstrated the
government's fear of a popular resistance," Sharafi
told Adnkronos International (AKI).
"Until a few years ago, there were only Kurds
opposing the Islamic Republic and claiming our
rights, now other ethnic minorities are fighting for
their rights from the Azerbaijanis to the Beluchis,
and the Arabs and the Turks.
"It is a war, not a military war but it has the
objective of bringing down the Islamic Republic."
The government continues to accuse opponents, from
journalists to women who demand equal rights, of
being foreign spies,
he said.
"For years the PDKI has been committed to the
creation of a broad democratic alliance but
unfortunately many political forces are anchored in
old conceptions of the state and are not disposed to
accept modern and efficient federalism," he said.
Sharafi downplayed the significance of the recent
election of Iran's pragmatic former president Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani to head of the influential
assembly of experts. The body appoints and oversees
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"This cannot herald any change of foreign of
domestic policy in a country governed by religious
ideology," he stated.
"Moreover, in all his years in power, Rafsanjani as
always backed highly repressive domestic policies."
"And his foreign policy has always been geared
towards increasing tensions with the international
community," Sharafi said.
During the eight years that Rafsanjani was president
of Iran (1989-1997), several attacks were made
against opposition figures living abroad. Two PDKI
leaders and members of their staff were killed in
attacks in Vienna and Berlin, Sharafi noted.
He rejected claims by Tehran that Irans' etnic
minorities are backed and orchestrated by foreign
powers, notably Britain and the United States.
He also denied that Iranian Kurds want to secede.
"At this time I dont see the possibility of
redrawing the border of our region," he said.
"The time-honoured equation of federalism and
decentralisation of power with secessionism is an
old pretext," he said.
"Avoiding the breakup of a country is used as an
excuse by those who want to wield centralised power
based on the repression and negation of the rights
of ethnic minorities," Sharafi stressed.
adnkronos com
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Īranź or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatź
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
KDPI
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Kurdish
(Hīzbī Dźmokiratī Kurdistanī Źran) is a Kurdish
opposition group in Iranian Kurdistan which seeks
the attainment of Kurdish national rights within a
democratic federal republic of Iran.
The current
General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan is Mustafa Hijri
More about KDPI- Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PEJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PEJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a
Free Life in Kurdistan
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