Exclusive; Amjad Hosseinpanahi Denies Reports of His Death in Clashes Between Komala and IRGC

Amjad Hosseinpanahi, a member of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, denied reports from Iranian state media regarding his death in a clash. However, he confirmed the fighting between the party's Peshmerga forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) near Marivan. According to him, the clashes began at 2 AM on Thursday and lasted for several hours. Amjad Hosseinpanahi stated that a member of the Komala Central Committee named Ribar Karimian was killed in the fighting, and several IRGC forces also lost their lives. Amjad is the brother of Ramin Hosseinpanahi, who was executed in September 2018 along with two other political prisoners, Zanyar Moradi and Luqman Moradi, in Rajai Shahr Prison, with the Iranian authorities refusing to disclose their burial locations to their families. The Komala Party confirmed the death of Ribar Karimian, known as 'Ribar Dasiran,' in a statement and promised to provide more details about the clashes. In this context, the Hengaw Human Rights Organization reported armed clashes in the heights of Marivan. Hengaw cited its sources, stating that from the early hours of Thursday morning, there was armed conflict between the IRGC and some Peshmerga forces of the Komala Party in the mountainous areas near the villages of Siyano and Eskol. The clashes reportedly continued until Thursday evening, with the IRGC shelling these areas. Hengaw noted that Ribar Karimian was killed in these confrontations. Meanwhile, the Kurdish Human Rights Network reported that a significant portion of the forests in the Marivan area around the villages of Eskol and Siyano caught fire due to the IRGC's shelling and have not yet been contained. The fighting between the Komala Peshmerga and the IRGC occurred nearly two weeks after reports of the relocation of this party's members from the 'Zargwez' camp near Sulaymaniyah to another area in Iraqi Kurdistan. In recent years, the Islamic Republic has conducted numerous missile and drone attacks in this region under the pretext of the presence of Iranian Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, resulting in significant casualties and financial losses for the local population. The Iranian government has particularly increased pressure on the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Iraqi government in recent years to disarm and expel members and families of these parties from Iraqi soil, which has been a key focus of recent meetings between Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior Kurdish officials in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. Reliable sources confirmed to Voice of America the arrest of Behzad Khosravi in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and his extradition to the Islamic Republic. The arrest of a Kurdish political activist with disabilities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and his extradition to Iran. The arrest of seven individuals in Oshnaviyeh for prison sentences. Kamal Sharifi, a political prisoner, remains deprived of leave and family visits after 16 years in prison. Several members of the German Parliament have called for pressure on the Islamic Republic to end executions in Iran.