Shafaq News – Erbil

The Kurdish Ministry of Peshmerga on Saturday launched an internal investigative committee regarding an incident involving one of its employees overnight between December 19 and 20.

In a statement, the ministry identified the employee as Miran Bakr Abdulrahman, noting that he has served as the media secretary to the Peshmerga minister for the past two years.

Abdulrahman told local media that a “trained force” attacked him minutes later, restraining and blindfolding him before forcing him into a vehicle where he was beaten and verbally abused, adding that the attackers held him for about three hours without disclosing his location, searched the vehicle, and confiscated his identification. Abdulrahman linked the attack to his writings and internal criticism within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

He also claimed recognizing some of those involved, adding that “they were not members of the Asayish forces affiliated with the PUK political office in Erbil, but rather individuals brought from Al-Sulaymaniyah,” stressing that the incident was not random but planned in advance.

Meanwhile, the Alliance 19 Network, a human rights watchdog, condemned the attack, describing it as unacceptable conduct that violates the rights of individuals holding differing views within political parties.