Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi

Last updated
Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi
Nickname(s)Haji Ahmadi
Born1941
Imperial State of Iran
Allegiance Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK)
Years of service2004–2011
Rank Commander-in-chief
Battles/wars Iran–PJAK conflict
Kurdish–Turkish conflict

Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi, (born, 1941, Iran [1] ) commonly known as just Haji Ahmadi, is an Iranian Kurdish leader. He leads a group called the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), a group fighting against the Iranian government for the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region inside Iran. He is said to live in exile with German citizenship in Cologne, Germany, where he allegedly leads the organization. [1] The PJAK is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, [2] Iran, and Turkey, while Russia, the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), and many other countries refuse to designate it as a terrorist organization. [2]

In summer 2007, he visited Washington, although according to the United States government he did not meet with any officials. [3]

In March 2010, Haji Ahmadi was arrested at his residence in Germany by German authorities, but was released shortly afterwards. The German government gave no details regarding why he was arrested or released. [4] Before his release, the Iranian government had asked Germany to extradite Haji Ahmadi to Iran. However, Germany refused this request on the grounds that Haji Ahmadi is a German citizen. [4] In response, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference in Tehran that the decision to free Haji Ahmadi amounted to "practically supporting terrorism", and that "Europe has become a haven for terrorists." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurdistan Workers' Party</span> Kurdish armed organization

The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement which historically operated throughout Kurdistan but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Since 1984, the PKK has utilized asymmetric warfare in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Although the PKK once sought an independent Kurdish state, in the 1990s its aims shifted toward autonomy and increased rights for Kurds within Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdullah Öcalan</span> Founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)

Abdullah Öcalan, also known as Apo, is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdictions and depends on the arrangements made between them. In addition to legal aspects of the process, extradition also involves the physical transfer of custody of the person being extradited to the legal authority of the requesting jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mullah Krekar</span> Founder and 1st leader of the Islamic Emirate of Byara and Ansar al-Islam

Najmuddin Vahid Faraj Ahmad, better known as Mullah Krekar, is an Iraqi Kurdish Sunni Islamic scholar and militant who was the founder and former leader of Islamist militant group Ansar al-Islam. He is currently serving a prison sentence in Italy, after having been extradited from Norway in 2020. He came to Norway as a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991. His wife, Rukhosh Ahmad, and his four children have Norwegian citizenship, but not Krekar himself. He speaks Kurdish, Arabic, Persian, Norwegian and English.

The history of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) began in 1974 as a Marxist–Leninist organization under the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan. In 1978 the organization adopted the name "Kurdistan Workers Party" and waged its low-level Urban War in Turkish Kurdistan between 1978 and 1980. The PKK restructured itself and moved the organization structure to Syria between 1980 and 1984, after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. The Kurdish-Turkish conflict began in earnest in 1984. The rural-based insurgency lasted between 1984 and 1992. The PKK shifted its activities to include urban attacks against Turkish military bases between 1993–1995 and later 1996–1999. Öcalan was captured in Kenya in early 1999. After a "self declared peace initiative of 1999", hostilities resumed in February 2004. 2013 saw another ceasefire, but the conflict resumed again in 2015 and has continued since.

The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is an arrest warrant valid throughout all member states of the European Union (EU). Once issued, it requires another member state to arrest and transfer a criminal suspect or sentenced person to the issuing state so that the person can be put on trial or complete a detention period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurdistan Free Life Party</span> Political party and militant group in Iran

The Kurdistan Free Life Party, or PJAK, is a Kurdish leftist anti-Islamic Republic of Iran armed militant group. It has waged an intermittent armed struggle since 2004 against the Iranian regime, seeking self-determination through some degree of autonomy for Kurds in Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quds Force</span> Branch of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for unconventional warfare and intelligence

The Quds Force is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Force as an organization analogous to a combination of the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the United States. Responsible for extraterritorial operations, the Quds Force supports non-state actors in many countries, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemeni Houthis, and Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the government of Iran has been accused by several countries of training, financing, and providing weapons and safe havens for non-state militant actors, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and other Palestinian groups. These groups are designated terrorist groups by a number of countries and international bodies; however, Iran considers such groups to be "national liberation movements" with a right to self-defense in the face of Israeli military occupation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iran–PJAK conflict</span> Armed conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Kurdish rebels

The Iran–PJAK conflict is an armed conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), which began in 2004. The group has carried out numerous attacks in the Kurdistan Province of Iran and provinces of Western Iran. PJAK is closely affiliated with the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the primary opponent of the Republic of Turkey in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. PJAK has been designated as a terrorist organization by Iran, Japan, Turkey, and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finland–Turkey relations</span> Bilateral relations

Finland–Turkey relations are foreign relations between Finland and Turkey. Finland has an embassy in Ankara and an honorary consulate general in Istanbul and other honorary consulates in Adana, Alanya, Antalya, Belek, Bodrum, İzmir, and Kayseri. Turkey has an embassy in Helsinki. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Union for the Mediterranean.

2011 Iran–Iraq cross-border raids were a series of operations, performed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), against the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), a Kurdish rebel group. The operations began in July 2011, and have included attacks on PJAK bases in Iranian territory, penetration into Iraqi Kurdistan territory, bombing of PJAK associated bases and villages in Kurdish controlled Iraqi areas and direct targeting of Kurdish guerrilla command in Qandil mountains. The clashes resulted in dozens killed and wounded on both sides, with hundreds of displaced Kurdish villagers. The exact numbers of casualties on each side are a matter of controversy.

Mustafa Karasu also known as Huseyin Ali is a Deputy Chairman of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish rebel group fighting an armed insurgency against the government of Turkey for an independent Kurdistan. The group is recognised as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and EU. Along with Cemil Bayık and Duran Kalkan he is viewed as one of the hardliners among the PKK's leadership and is alleged to have links to Iran. He is the leader of the Alevi groups within the PKK. His name was on the list of 248 PKK members of which Turkey wished extradication from Iraq on July 10, 2010.

Majid Kavian, also known as Semko Sarheldan was the deputy commander of the militant Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) until his death on 3 September 2011, at the age of 29. As the number two in command he was the chief commander of all PJAK's armed activities as the PJAK's number one leader, Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi lives in exile, in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurdish separatism in Iran</span> Separatist dispute

Kurdish separatism in Iran or the Kurdish–Iranian conflict is an ongoing, long-running, separatist dispute between the Kurdish opposition in Western Iran and the governments of Iran, lasting since the emergence of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1918.

The insurgency by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran surged in 1989, lasting until 1996, as part of the Kurdish separatism struggle. The eruption of the conflict in July 1989 was caused by the assassination of KDPI leader Abdul Rahman Qassemlou by suspected Iranian government agents. The most violent episodes took place in 1990 and 1991, when Kurdish soldiers launched massive attacks on Iranian military bases in Kurdish areas of Iran. This brought heavy retaliation from the Iranian government, aiming to eradicate the KDPI leadership by assassinating Sadegh Sharafkandi and other KDPI leaders in 1992 in order to disable the Kurdish party's ability to function. The conflict faded with the effective targeted assassination policy of Iran and by 1996 KDPI was no longer able to function militarily and announced a unilateral ceasefire. The conflict claimed hundreds of lives, mostly Iranian government troops and Kurdish militants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rawti Shax</span> Kurdish Salafi cyberterrorist group

Rawti Shax was a Kurdish cyberterrorist offshoot of the jihadist group Ansar al-Islam.

2016–present clashes in West Iran refers to the ongoing military clashes between Kurdish insurgent party Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which began in April 2016. Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) and Komalah expressed their support to the Kurdish cause of PDKI as well, with both clashing with Iranian security forces in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In parallel, a leftist Iranian Kurdish rebel group PJAK resumed military activities against Iran in 2016, following a long period of stalemate.

Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it includes the West Azerbaijan Province, Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of Hamadan Province and Lorestan Province.

References

  1. 1 2 Röbel, Sven (14 April 2008). "Germany Concerned About PJAK Activities". Der Spiegel . Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  2. 1 2 "U.S. lists anti-Iran Kurdish PJAK as terrorist organization". ekurd.net. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  3. Thomas Renard. "PJAK in Northern Iraq: Tangled Interests and Proxy Wars" (PDF). thomasrenard.eu. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Germany Rejects Iran Extradition Request , Radio Free Europe, March 09, 2010.