Top Kurdish opposition member assassinated in Erbil by IRGC
A senior member of the leadership committee of Kurdistan Democratic Party-of Iran (PDK-I), Musa Babakhani, was assassinated in Erbil on Thursday allegedly by the US-designated terrorist group of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC).
The opposition party announced in a statement released on Saturday that the dead body of Babakhani was found in a hotel in Erbil.
Khaled Vanashe, PDK-I representative in Erbil told Avatoday that the assassination of Babkhani was planned and ordered by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) intelligence.
Confidential sources, who were not allowed to talk to media, confirmed to Avatoday that Sarmad Abdi who is an IRGC intelligence agent was behind the assassination.
Babakhani contacted Avatoday several months ago. In a telephone conversation, he said that his life is in imminent danger. He asked Avatoday to record his phone call and publish the audio file if the plan against him had succeeded.
Avatoday will publish the audio file later after considering security measures to protect those whose names are in the audio file.
The Kurdistan Region’s security forces have started the investigation, according to the local media.
“Based on CCTV cameras, Abdi has left the hotel at 3:00 in the Friday morning, probably after the assassination,” a security source told Avatoday on condition of anonymity.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been known for its political terror both inside and outside the country.
In 2019, Iranian agents killed Qader Qaderi in Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital city, Erbil. Last week, three men affiliated with IRGCs were convicted by a Kurdistan Region’s court for Qaderi’s terror case.
Samira Moradpour, an intelligent agent of Iranian regime, who was editor in chief of a local magazine in Sanandaj, was arrested in October 2019 after she and her teammates were planning to kill Ali Javanmardi, an independent journalist and founder of Avatoday Media Network who was based in Erbil at that time.
Later, she was sentenced to five years in prison by a Kurdistan Region’s court.
Avatoday received confidential information that Iranian regime has put significant pressure on the Iraqi Kurdistan Region to hand over Moradpour to Iran.
A day after Moradpour was arrested, Iranian Revolutionary Guard kidnaped Ruhollah Zam, an Iranian opposition activist based in France. Zam was executed in December 2020.
