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Iranian Kurdish activist hanged in Iran after handed over by PUK

Iranian Kurdish activist hanged in Iran after handed over by PUK
Mustafa Salimi looks at a camera at a mosque in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region's village of Germak one day after he fled prison in Saqez.
posted onApril 11, 2020
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Mustafa Salimi, an Iranian Kurdish political activist, was executed in Saqez on Saturday after he was arrested and handed over to Tehran by security forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Security forces of the PUK arrested Mustafa Salimi on Tuesday and deported him to Iran, one of Salimi’s family members told Avatoday.

The political prisoner, who was arrested and sentenced to death in 2003, managed to escape Iranian prison at the city of Saqez last month during a prison unrest, which occurred as fear of coronavirus outbreak raised among inmates.

He had escaped the country and sheltered in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan.

PUK is one of the leading parties in Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The party is highly criticized for its close ties with Iran.

“Mustafa managed to escape Saqez Prison and reached the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s border city of Penjwen’s Garmakk Village,” Salimi’s family member, who asked to remain anonymous, told Avatoday.

“Unfortunately, Mustafa was arrested three days ago by PUK security forces and then handed over to Iran,” the source added.

PUK has been accused of deporting dozens of Iranian Kurdish activists to Iran in the past.