PAK accuses Iraqi army of arresting and handing ex-Peshmerga fighter to Iran’s IRGC

He was a Peshmerga fighter and chef within the PAK units in the disputed province of Kirkuk, which is under the command of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Peshmerga Ministry.

After the Islamic State’s military defeat in Iraq, and his service as a Peshmerga fighter for the PAK for a year, he decided to put down his arms and leave the group, according to a PAK statement.

Iraqi security forces arrested Salihi in Kirkuk’s Pirde (Altun Kupri) town on Feb. 24, 2019, while he was traveling from Erbil to Sulaimani using the Kirkuk highway, the PAK added.

“PAK holds the failed state of Iraq responsible for the fate of Kamal Salihi, and we will continue to follow the case,” the group stated, adding they would also “reach out to different countries and international human rights group to condemn such a crime.”

The group claimed Iraqi security had recently handed over one of their former fighters to Iran’s IRGC but did not specify the date.

Kurdistan 24 tried to reach security commanders in Kirkuk for comment but received no response.

The PAK has over 100 Rojhilat Peshmerga fighters, both male and female, who fought the Islamic State mainly from southern and southwestern front lines in Kirkuk.

The group also continues their struggle against the Iranian government in Rojhilat, seeking to gain Kurdish national rights within a democratic federal republic of Iran.

The group was founded in 1991 and called the “Revolutionary Union of Kurdistan,” but in 2006, changed its name to the PAK. Hussein Yezdanpanah is currently the party’s secretary-general.

Source: Kurdistan 24