Kurdistan Human Rights Network: 29 Months Since the Arrest and Enforced Disappearance of Idris Faqihi

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reports that nearly 29 months have passed since the arrest and enforced disappearance of Idris Faqihi, a member of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), raising concerns about his status and fate. This human rights organization noted that Fatemeh Maqsoudi, the mother of this political prisoner, stated in a video message that the security agencies of the Islamic Republic have not provided her with clear answers regarding her son's fate and that she has repeatedly faced disrespect from security agents during this time. According to the report, Idris Faqihi has been transferred in recent months from the IRGC's detention center in Urmia to the city’s Intelligence Department detention center after completing his interrogation period, and he remains deprived of the right to contact and meet with his family at the order of his interrogators. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network wrote that Fatemeh Maqsoudi was summoned to the news headquarters of the Intelligence Department in Sanandaj in recent days and was interrogated for several hours regarding the release of a video of her that was published on the first anniversary of her son's enforced disappearance. The report indicates that the interrogators have warned Ms. Maqsoudi that she does not have the right to wear a white scarf, which is recognized in Kurdistan as a symbol of 'Mothers of Peace,' nor does she have the right to travel to Urmia to inquire about her son's fate. This human rights organization added that the family of Idris Faqihi, who disappeared on July 24, 2021, after being injured by IRGC forces near the city of Bukan in West Azerbaijan province, has repeatedly visited the IRGC's detention center in the Al-Mahdi military base, the Intelligence Department, and the Urmia court over the past year. Nevertheless, they have not been provided with any precise information regarding the fate of this political prisoner. In this context, over the past year, agents of the IRGC and the Urmia court have presented conflicting scenarios in response to the family's requests for information about Idris Faqihi's fate. Initially, the IRGC announced that Mr. Faqihi had been killed during the shooting by IRGC forces and would send 'photos of the body and death certificate' to the family, but no evidence has been provided to the family in this regard so far. On the other hand, the Urmia court informed Mr. Faqihi's family that due to the sensitivity of his case and pressure from security agencies, they have no right to respond to the family. According to this report, a group of members of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) was ambushed by forces known as the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shuhada Headquarters of the IRGC on the mountainous heights of the village of 'Elmabad' in Bukan on July 24, 2021. Subsequently, the Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, reported on July 26 that two members of a Kurdish party had been killed and one injured member of this party had been arrested. Ten days later, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) announced the deaths of two of its members, Idris Faqihi and Mohsen Ghaderi, in an armed clash with IRGC forces near Bukan. However, after a while, they released another statement confirming Mohsen Ghaderi's survival and Idris Faqihi's arrest after being injured by the IRGC. PJAK was placed on the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions list in 2009.