(London) – Some of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ attacks on the offices of Iranian opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in late September hit towns and villages where the parties were not engaged in any military activity, according to local residents, Human Rights Watch said today. According to media reports, the attacks killed at least 16 people, injured dozens more and displaced many families.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the attacks on the offices of Iranian opposition parties and called the targets “terrorist bases. “Army activity. Human Rights Watch may simply determine whether the affected sites in the mountainous regions host military education through specific opposition parties, as the Iranian government has claimed.
“The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ attacks on residential spaces in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are part of a long history of deadly attacks on civilians, adding to the war in Syria,” said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. holding Iran accountable for its brutal crackdown in recent days also deserves to ensure that those guilty of the indiscriminate killing of civilians abroad are also found guilty. “
The attacks on opposition teams in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region coincided with widespread protests in Iran that began on September 16, following the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” after she was detained for “abuse. “her hijab. The Iranian government has responded to weeks of protests with brutal violence, killing and injuring many protesters.
On September 24, the Revolutionary Guards shelled the offices of Iranian opposition parties in Sidakan district, northeast of the city of Erbil. The attacks targeted Iran’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI) and the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, which caused However, media reports imply that Iraqi citizens and Iranian refugees have since left six nearby villages.
The KDPI was formed in 1945 and the Komala Party in 1969, either as social democratic parties. Both sides have already engaged in an armed confrontation in Iran and are reportedly still believed to have armed wings.
On 28 September, the Iranian military again attacked the offices of KDPI and Komala in the Koya district of Erbil governorate and the Zargwezalla residential complex in Sulaymaniyah governorate.
“We are a political party, an army group,” KDPI member Fuad Khaki Baygi told Human Rights Watch. “[The Iranian authorities] seek to divert attention from the protests in Iran, so they have resorted to indiscriminate shelling of spaces populated by civilians. in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
According to UNICEF, the attacks in Koya hit a school in a refugee camp, injuring two children and killing a pregnant woman. Human Rights Watch knew the woman as Reyhane (Shima) Kanaani.
“Our space is a kilometer and a half from the party headquarters,” said Zanyar Rahmani, Kanaani’s husband, who works at the KDPI offices that were attacked. “[We live] in a refugee camp, where women and girls live more commonly. The domain where my wife and I live is not a military place, it is a residential domain for civilians.
Kanaani was 36 weeks pregnant with their son, whom they named Waniar, her husband said. After the attack, doctors delivered the baby and then operated on Kanaani, who suffered injuries to the back of her head and internal bleeding. He died from his injuries. Waniar suffered brain damage and also died. “My healthy son [before the attack], up to that point, all the ultrasounds showed he was healthy,” Rahmani said.
Human Rights Watch interviewed an Iraqi police officer who works at the Koya hospital and has no connection to the attacked opposition parties. “On September 28, I rushed to the hospital,” he said. I saw a pregnant woman who was injured [by the attack], I heard that she died later. I also saw wounded youths and security guards running around the party headquarters.
The police official said the party offices were in a residential domain where many Iranian refugees live. “We’ve never noticed them doing military activities at the headquarters because it’s in a residential domain,” the police officer said. activities, but in the mountains, not in the cities. “
A resident of Aher Koya who has no connection to the targeted political parties told Human Rights Watch that the offices targeted are only political offices and house army activities.
In Sulaymaniyah governorate, Iranian drones and missiles targeted the political workplaces of the Komala party of Iranian Kurdistan, located in the Zargwezalla residential complex. “Our workplace is in a residential area,” said Mohammed Hakemi, a member of Komala. “We don’t have an army. The citizens of the compound are all refugees from Iran who escaped. He said the party does not conduct outdoor military activities at the workplace it hit.
“I was at Komala’s workplace in Zargwezalla when a drone hit us,” said Anwar Qobadi, another Komala member. Qobadi is also a refugee who told Human Rights Watch that he left Iran in 2010 after suffering human rights violations by Iranian authorities. He said everyone in the Zargwezalla residential complex is a refugee.
After the first drone hit his desk, Qobadi and two colleagues fled the construction. “A minute later, a missile and another drone hit the office and shrapnel hit my back,” he said. “My colleagues were also injured and the building was destroyed. No one was killed.
Iran has already attacked the political offices of Iran’s Iraq-based opposition parties. In September 2018, Iranian missiles hit the headquarters of two Iranian Kurdish parties in Koya, killing at least 14 people, according to media outlets at the time.
On January 8, 2020, the IRGC shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board. After several initial denials, the Central Command of Iran’s armed forces admitted on January 11 that the Revolutionary Guards had fired “by mistake. “He shot down the plane. The Iranian government then engaged in a crusade of harassment and abuse against the families of those killed on Flight 752 to restrict accountability efforts. On April 6, 2021, the Iranian government announced that it had charged another 10 people for their role. in the incident, but did not provide any public data about their identity, rank or the fees that were opposed to them. The Iranian government has failed to conduct a credible and transparent investigation into serious abuses committed by security forces. A Canadian government forensic investigation into the downing of Flight 752 made us think that “Iran is a long way from offering a credible explanation for how and why the IRGC shot down PS752. “