Shafaq News/ The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) distanced itself from the actions of security forces in Al-Sulaymaniyah following reports that a Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) member was handed over to Iranian authorities.
In a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, the council said that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) had transferred Behzad Khosravi, a member of the KDPI, to Iran without the knowledge of the Kurdistan Region's Security Council.
"The PUK has been running government and security institutions in Al-Sulaymaniyah under party directives for some time," the statement added. "The official institutions of the Kurdistan Region are not responsible for the illegal actions of the PUK's leadership and its entities."
Al-Sulaymaniyah's internal security forces (Asayish) reportedly handed over the Iranian Kurdish activist, a member of a prominent opposition party, to Iranian authorities, according to the KDPI on Saturday.
The KDPI's account contradicts the Asayish statement on Friday, which claimed that Khosravi had been detained last week for lacking residency papers in Al-Sulaymaniyah.
The statement added that Khosravi had no political affiliations in the Kurdistan Region and had requested to return to Iran after signing a legal document to that effect. However, the KDPI asserted that Khosravi was a member of the party, noting that he had been summoned twice by the Asayish before being arrested and handed over to Iranian intelligence.
The party further claimed that Khosravi, his mother, and his sister had valid residency permits in Al-Sulaymaniyah and had legally lived in the city for over a decade. It also said that Khosravi was registered as a refugee with the UNHCR in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
According to the KDPI, Khosravi had been granted political asylum in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The KDPI, established in 1945, is the oldest Iranian Kurdish party and is considered a terrorist organization by Tehran, which has accused it and other Kurdish groups in Iraqi Kurdistan of launching attacks on Iranian soil. In late 2023, after several Iranian strikes in Iraq, Baghdad pledged to disarm these factions, evacuate their bases, and relocate them to camps.
Iran has accused these groups of inciting the protests that erupted in September 2022 following the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for violating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code.