IRAN/ROJHELAT: NEWS BRIEFING, 23 January – 05 February 2021

 

For all of the latest Kurdish news, see these sources:

 

ANF English: https://anfenglishmobile.com/

Hawar News: https://www.hawarnews.com/en/

Rojava Information Center: https://rojavainformationcenter.com

https://twitter.com/RojavaIC

Women Defend Rojava: http://womendefendrojava.net/en/

Rojhelat: http://rojhelat.info/en/

Rojava Centre for Strategic Studies

http://nrlsrojava.com/en/

Komun Academy: 

https://komun-academy.com

MA NEWS

http://mezopotamyaajansi22.com/en/NEWS

Center for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranhumanrights.org/

Iran Human Rights

https://iranhr.net/en/

Kurdistan Press Agency

https://kurdpa.net/en
KHRN

http://kurdistanhumanrights.org/en

 

 NEWS

1. Media watchdog condemns ‘outrageous’ arrests of journalists in Iran

2. Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Cover for State Terrorism

3. Dutch Kurdish filmmaker wins top photography award in Netherland

4. Iranian government has detained at least 114 Kurds since January 8

5. Kurdish teacher in Education Department in Mahabad detained

6. John Bolton: US should have done more for Kurds

7. Academic jailed in Iran pulls off daring escape back to Britain

8. Iran vows to take action against German companies that supplied Saddam with chemical weapons

9. Nature of Eastern Kurdistan under attack

10. Locals find bodies of 5 Kurdish couriers from Iran killed in Turkish avalanche

11. The crimes and violence of the Islamic Republic of Iran are a sign of the weakness of the regime!

 

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGNS

 1. Urgent international action needed to secure release of Kurdish activists and others arbitrarily detained in Iran

2. Amnesty: Jailed Iranian Kurdish woman Zeynab Jalalian tortured

 

 ———————-

 NEWS

 

1. Media watchdog condemns ‘outrageous’ arrests of journalists in Iran

05 February 2021 | Rudaw

Iran arrested two journalists in late January, drawing condemnation of “vague charges” from a press freedom watchdog amid a growing number of arrests of activists and opposition figures.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/05022021

 

2. Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Cover for State Terrorism

05 February 2021 | Iranfocus

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs acts as a cover for state terrorism. The Antwerp court in Belgium announced its verdict on Thursday, February 4, on the charges of a “terrorist group.”

https://www.iranfocus.com/en/terrorism/46241-iranian-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-a-cover-for-state- terrorism/

 

3. Dutch Kurdish filmmaker wins top photography award in Netherland

05 February 2021 | Kurdistan 24

Dutch Kurdish screenwriter and film director Beri Shalmashi and documentary film researcher Lyangelo Vasquez have won the top Dutch photography award Zilveren Camera (Silver Camera) 2020 in the Story Telling category for an interactive documentary about Kurdish refugees who fled Iran.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/23896-Dutch-Kurdish-filmmaker-wins-top-photography-award-in-Netherlands

 

4. Iranian government has detained at least 114 Kurds since January 8

04 Feb 2021 | AFN NEWS

The Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported that operations targeting students, civil society activists, teachers, journalists and artists in Eastern Kurdistan and Iran are continuing.

https://globalvoices.org/2021/02/03/nearly-a-hundred-kurdish-activists-detained-by-irans-security-forces-in-2021/

 

5. Kurdish teacher in Education Department in Mahabad detained

04 Feb 2021 | Hengaw

Following the mass detention of Kurdish activists, one of the teachers working in the education department of Mahabad district of West Azerbaijan (Urmia) province in Iranian Kurdistan has been  detained  by Iranian security forces  and transferred to an unknown location.

https://hengaw.net/en/news/kurdish-teacher-in-education-department-in-mahabad-detained

 

6. John Bolton: US should have done more for Kurds; Iran remains biggest threat in Middle East; difficult to return to 2015 nuclear deal

03 Feb 2021 | Kurdistan24

“I think that the United States has not done as much for the Kurds as it should,” Amb. John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former National Security Council Advisor, told Kurdistan 24, “but over the years, over the past two decades, nobody else has done more for the Kurds.”

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/23893-John-Bolton:-US-should-have-done-more-for-Kurds;-Iran-remains-biggest-threat-in-Middle-East;-difficult-to-return-to-2015-nuclear-deal

 

7. Academic jailed in Iran pulls off daring escape back to Britain

03 Feb 2021 | The Guardian

A British- Iranian dual national sentenced to nine years and three months in jail in Iran for co-operating with “a hostile state power” has smuggled himself out of Iran, escaping over the country’s treacherous mountainous border, and is now living in London.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/03/academic-jailed-in-iran-pulls-off-daring-escape-back-to-britain-kameel-ahmady

 

8. Iran vows to take action against German companies that supplied Saddam with chemical weapons

28 January 2021 | Morning Star

Ismail Baqai Hamaneh, Tehran’s representative at the United Nations in Geneva , told the UN-linked Conference on Disarmament: “Iran will never back down from pursuing Germany’s crime of arming Saddam with chemical weapons.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/iran-vows-take-action-against-german-companies-supplied-saddam-chemical-weapons

9. Nature of Eastern Kurdistan under attack

27 January 2021 | AFN NEWS

The nature of Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan, Iran) is a great blessing to its inhabitants; It is a generous basin with its beauty and abundance.

https://anfenglish.com/ecology/nature-of-eastern-kurdistan-under-attack-49605

 

10. Locals find bodies of 5 Kurdish couriers from Iran killed in Turkish avalanche

27 January 2021 | Kurdistan24

The bodies of five Kurdish couriers known as Kolbars have been found, just over a week after they were killed in an avalanche in a rural mountainous region between the Turkish provinces of Wan and Hakari, not far from the borders of Iran and the Kurdistan Region.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/23848-Locals-find-bodies-of-5-Kurdish-couriers-from-Iran-killed-in-Turkish-avalanche

 

11. The crimes and violence of the Islamic Republic of Iran are a sign of the weakness of the regime!
January 23, 2021 Kongra
2020 was an exceptionally difficult year, especially for the peoples of Iran. Under the dictatorial regime of the Islamic Republic, Iran’s struggling economy continued to deteriorate, and the coronavirus pandemic added to all other hardships that the country’s people been endured for decades.

http://www.kongrakurdistan.net/en/the-crimes-and-violence-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-are-a-sign-of-the-weakness-of-the-regime/

 

 INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGNS

 1. Urgent international action needed to secure release of Kurdish activists and others arbitrarily detained in Iran

04 Feb 2021 | Kurdistan Press Agency

“We, the undersigned 37 civil society and human rights organizations, call for the urgent attention of the international community to an ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, and enforced disappearances by the Iranian authorities,

targeting scores of people from Iran’s disadvantaged Kurdish minority in the provinces of Alborz, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Tehran, and West Azerbaijan.”

https://kurdpa.net/en/news/urgent-international-action-needed-to-secure-release-of-kurdish-acitvists-and-others-artbitrarily-detained-in-iran

2. Amnesty: Jailed Iranian Kurdish woman Zeynab Jalalian tortured

02 Feb 2021 | Kurdistan Human Rright Network

Amnesty International has accused Iran of torturing Kurdish woman political prisoner Zeynab Jalalian called upon readers to take urgent action by sending appeals to the country’s Head of Judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi.

https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/en/amnesty-international-calls-for-urgent-action-against-iran-torturing-kurdish-prisoner/

 

 

Peace in Kurdistan

Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question

Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk

www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com

Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Gingell – Tel: 020 7272 7890

Patrons: John Austin, Christine Blower, NEU International Secretary, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Dr Cynthia Cockburn, Jeremy Corbyn MP,  Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director,  Jill Evans MEP, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Christopher Gingell, Rahila Gupta, Nick Hildyard, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert MEP, Elfyn Llwyd, Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Gareth Peirce, Dr Felix Padel, Maxine Peake, Lord Rea, Joe Ryan, Stephen Smellie, Jonathan Steele, Steve Sweeney, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward MEP, Hywel Williams MP.