A witness told Kurdistan Media that before the Revolutionary Guards arrested Husseini, they searched the homes of several residents in the village.

According to witnesses, the Revolutionary Guards were looking for posters and flyers disseminated on the anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan.

When the Guards did not find any posters or flyers, they went into Husseini’s house and arrested him. They also confiscated his computer and several other personal belongings.

Abdullah Abbasi, who is a Kurdish Sunni cleric, was taken in for an interrogation with Iran’s intelligence service. The agents that interrogated the cleric threatened him to stop his religious activities.

This is the fourth time Abbasi has been interrogated due to his religious activities.

In an interview with the news agency, Mr. Tase, who was a student at Alama Tebatebai in Tehran, revealed that the Ministry of Intelligence had denied him from studying for the second time.

Tase was informed in a letter that he would not be allowed to continue his university studies due to a decision by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.

The reason for being banned from continuing his studies is, according to the ministry, Tase’s role in organizing student rallies in protest of executing Kurdish political prisoners.

Hiwa Tase was in his second term of a master’s program in economics when he was informed of the decision that he would not be allowed to continue his studies.

Copy of the letter banning Hiwa from continuing his studies

Following the amputation, Ali Alghasi, Shiraz’s public prosecutor, announced that sentences against criminals would become increasingly severe, without explaining why.

Amputation, whipping, and even death by stoning are all legal forms of punishment under Iran’s Islamic penal code.

The eleven journlists, who were taken into custody late on Sunday, are from six different news organizations, including four daily papers, a weekly and the semi-official ILNA news agency, the AP reported.

According to reports Bokani told his fellow political prisoners in Karaj that if he was not transferred back to Karaj after two weeks he would stage a hunger strike.

Evin Prison is the most notorious prison in Iran, many of the Kurdish political prisoners are imprisoned in Evin.

Kerimi was brought in for an interrogation after that he was stopped outside his shop. He was later arrested during the interrogation. It is unclear what Kerimi was charged with.

Panirak is originally from Broshkhovaran village outside Salmas. He was sentenced to prison on charges of “acting against national security”.

The Republic of Kurdistan was proclaimed on January 22, 1946. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, which was established one year earlier, formed the first and only government during the short-lived republic.

Qazi Mohammad, the first leader of PDKI, was the republic’s President. Three years earlier, the founding members of the PDKI had established an organization called Komalay Ziyanaway Kurd (Society for Kurdish Resurrection). The PDKI was founded to replace Komalay Ziyanaway Kurd for the purpose of creating a modern, well-organized and popular political party with an explicit commitment to democracy, liberty, social justice and gender equality. These were the values upon which the Republic of Kurdistan was founded.

For the first time in modern history, the Kurdish people, like other nations in the Middle East, attained freedom, human dignity and a political framework to protect their national rights. Following the establishment of the Republic of Kurdistan, the Kurds achieved many political objectives in spite of unfavorable domestic and international conditions.

For example, Kurdish children and students received free education in Kurdish; a number of newspapers and magazines were published; Peshmerga Forces were formed for the purpose of safeguarding the security of the Kurdish people and to protect Kurdish national rights and interests; the Kurdish flag, an important symbol of the Kurdish nation, was flying on government buildings etc.

Equally noteworthy from a historical perspective, gender-segregated schools were abolished and Kurdish women in urban areas of Kurdistan actively took part in politics. In many respects, the Republic of Kurdistan, which only survived for 11 months, was unique in a region of the world that even to this date has not experienced genuine liberty, democracy, and gender equality.

In a speech at the event in Hawler on January 21, the current leader of the PDKI, Mustafa Hijri, underlined that “the republic has become part of our identity, not only in the east [of Kurdistan] but in all parts of Kurdistan.”

Hijri added, “The republic has thought us that we can only attain our rights by exercising our right to self-determination and through the establishment of a political framework that respects individual and national rights.”

“The Republic [of Kurdistan] signifies freedom, and this freedom is a source of social and political rights for the Kurds. In this sense, national rights and freedom are interlinked and part of the Kurdish people’s identity,” Hijri said in another part of his speech.

Celebrating the anniversary of the Republic of Kurdistan every year is not only a celebration of a crucial moment in modern Kurdish history, but also an affirmation of the Kurdish nation’s right to self-determination and a commitment to progressive political values in the face of policies of denial by the clerical regime in Tehran.

Click here to watch some pictures from the event.

Video from the event (audio in Kurdish)

According to the news agency Sherefi, who was from the village of Nistan, sat in his car to drive to the town of Sardasht and was stopped by revolutionary guard soldiers and shot to death. The shooting occurred around 5:30 in the morning on Tuesday.

The revolutionary guards arrested several residents of Rabat, Nistan and Sardasht who visited the location of the shooting. The names of the arrested individuals are: Qader Khzerzadeh, Ali Qalei, Mohammed Habibi, Sherzad Mostafazadeh, Ibrahim Husseinzadeh, Abobekr Mohemmedi, Ako Nazi and Ibrahim Sherefi.

Kurdistan Press Agency also reports that a clash erupted between residents of the village of Nistan and revolutionary guards after that the residents protested the killing. A couple of days before the shooting the residents of Nistan clashed with revolutionary guard soldiers after that the guards attacked the village and started looting several of the residents homes.