ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iranian security forces fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at a vehicle traveling on a highway in the northwestern part of the country, killing all four people in the car, including civilians, according to a human rights watchdog.
Members of the Hamza Sayyid al-Shuhada Command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), responsible for Kurdish areas in the northwest and west of Iran, killed four occupants of a vehicle near Chehargah village on the Mahabad-Sardasht highway on September 16, Rebin Rahmani, a board member of the France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), told Rudaw English on Thursday.
“Locals have told us that the casualties include two members of the PJAK as well,” he added, referring to the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), an armed group closely associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). It is not clear whether the PJAK members were armed at the time.
Local security forces told the family of one of the civilians killed in the attack that the bodies of all four passengers were burned beyond recognition, but they know one of them was their son, Khezr Bayazidi, according to Rahmani. There has been heavy security presence in the area since the attack, he added.
This is not the first time that Iranian security forces, including the Hamza command, have targeted civilian vehicles in the Kurdish area. At least three civilians have been killed in the last four years, according to figures provided by KHRN.
Iran is under fire for its human rights record after a crackdown on anti-government protests late last year, high profile executions, and the detention of several dual nationals.
The United States is expected to announce new sanctions on a number of Iranian officials, including the judge who sentenced wrestler Navid Afkari to death. He was executed on September 12, despite global condemnation and evidence his confession to a murder was extracted under torture.
Iran executed at least 251 people in 2019, second only to China, according to Amnesty International. At least 304 people were killed in protests last November, and more than 7,000 people were arrested, according to a United Nations report.
Three signatories of the nuclear deal with Iran – France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – have summoned Iranian ambassadors to their countries to protest detention of dual nationals and mistreatment of political prisoners.
Members of the Hamza Sayyid al-Shuhada Command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), responsible for Kurdish areas in the northwest and west of Iran, killed four occupants of a vehicle near Chehargah village on the Mahabad-Sardasht highway on September 16, Rebin Rahmani, a board member of the France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), told Rudaw English on Thursday.
“Locals have told us that the casualties include two members of the PJAK as well,” he added, referring to the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), an armed group closely associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). It is not clear whether the PJAK members were armed at the time.
Local security forces told the family of one of the civilians killed in the attack that the bodies of all four passengers were burned beyond recognition, but they know one of them was their son, Khezr Bayazidi, according to Rahmani. There has been heavy security presence in the area since the attack, he added.
This is not the first time that Iranian security forces, including the Hamza command, have targeted civilian vehicles in the Kurdish area. At least three civilians have been killed in the last four years, according to figures provided by KHRN.
Iran is under fire for its human rights record after a crackdown on anti-government protests late last year, high profile executions, and the detention of several dual nationals.
The United States is expected to announce new sanctions on a number of Iranian officials, including the judge who sentenced wrestler Navid Afkari to death. He was executed on September 12, despite global condemnation and evidence his confession to a murder was extracted under torture.
Iran executed at least 251 people in 2019, second only to China, according to Amnesty International. At least 304 people were killed in protests last November, and more than 7,000 people were arrested, according to a United Nations report.
Three signatories of the nuclear deal with Iran – France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – have summoned Iranian ambassadors to their countries to protest detention of dual nationals and mistreatment of political prisoners.
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