Mustafa Salimi, a political prisoner who escaped from the Saqqez prison on March 27 during a riot with more than 70 other prisoners, was arrested 10 days later in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and handed over to the Islamic Republic. You can read more about this prisoner’s story and the cruelty that befell him.
According to informed and unofficial sources, Mustafa Salimi has been handed over to the Islamic Republic’s forces by the Counter-Terrorism Unit, Asayish forces, based in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
During his last visit with his son yesterday, when he was extremely anxious, he said he had escaped from Saqqez prison and was able to reach Penjwen, Sulaymaniyah province, Iraq. He was then been arrested by Asayish forces under the control of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), survivors of Jalal Talabani, has been handed over to the Islamic Republic. (1)
Saadi Pireh, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, denied that the group had handed over Mustafa Salimi to the Islamic Republic, in a report by Iran International.
The two Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Barzani, and the Patriotic Union Party, led by Jalal Talabani, signed the Alliance Agreement from 1998 until the elections in the Kurdistan Region (the independence referendum) and Barzani came to power. But as Barzani came to power, the alliance faltered. However, according to Barzani, the alliance had already been disbanded, as the Patriotic Union Party had helped the Iraqi government under the influence of the Islamic Republic and Iranian-backed militias take control of the oil-rich region of Kirkuk. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has always been accused of collaborating with the Islamic Republic and preventing the unity of the Kurdistan Region because of its breaching of Kurdistan Unity, which is not desirable for the Islamic Republic.
Currently, although the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is in power in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah area is under the influence of Talabani survivors. The Sulaymaniyah Counter-Terrorism Unit (Asayish), which most Kurds refer to as the Terrorist Unit, operates under control of the Quds Force’s western branch of the Ramadan Unit, which have been committing crimes in the area since 1991 starting with the assassinations of Kurdish commanders. Although the Kurdistan Region officials have not yet announced the details of the Kurdish political activist’s arrest, local and unofficial Kurdish sources have blamed the Patriotic Union Party for the arrest, extradition and death of Kurdish political activist, Mustafa Salimi.