One of the relatives of Mr. Aji described him as “a very calm man, guileless, smart, active, and capable”. According to this source, he was well read, he participated in sports, and he was interested in soccer.

Information regarding the case of Mr. Loqman Aji (also known as Loqman Garguli), son of Amir and Shilan Aji, was obtained from an interview conducted by Boroumand Center with one of his relatives (June 17, 2023. Additional information was collected from Iran Newspaper website (July 8, 2023, Issue number 8226), Kurdistan Human Rights Network (July 7, 2023), Hengaw Human Rights Organization (July 7 &10, 2023), Kurdistan Media, Central website of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran (July 7, 2023), Kurdpa (July 10, 2023), and Iran International (July 7, 2023). 

Mr. Aji was born on June 15, 1998, in the village of Gargul-e Sofla, near Naqadeh in Western Azerbaijan. When he was 6 years old, his family moved to Naqadeh. He went to school in Naqadeh. When he was in the first year of high school, due to economic hardship, he was obliged to drop out of school and work in the aluminum door and window making industry. After dropping out of school, Mr. Aji worked in aluminum door and window production for two years (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023). 

According to one of his relatives, Mr. Aji contacted the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran (HADKA) in 2015, whereupon he left Iran and joined the camps of this party in Iraqi Kurdistan. He returned to Iran a month later. He was detained for 20 days, for having left the country illegally and for his activities with anti-government parties. He was released on bail. Even so, Mr. Aji kept his organizational contact with the Democratic Party. In 2016, he left the country again, and this time he formally joined this party as a “Peshmerga*”. This time he completed the basic training course and went to the camps in border regions. He served 4 years in the “Service Organization” and “Unit 122” for organizing. At that time he was a member of the Party and he progressed to the point where he was the designated alternative to the head of the command unit (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023). 

According to one of his relatives, Mr. Aji was a well-known figure among the Members of the HADKA organization in Piranshahr area (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023). 

In Mr. Aji’s family, who are Kurdish and Sunni, political activity is not unprecedented. His grandfather was arrested and spent more than three years in prison for political activity in support of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran. This episode affected other family members including Mr. Loqman Aji and got them involved in politics (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023). 

Mr. Aji was a full member of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran. Mr. Aji was single. One of his relatives describes him as “a very calm man, guileless, smart, active, and capable.”  According to this source, he was well read, he participated in sports, and he was interested in soccer (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023).

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) 

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) was founded in 1945 with the goal to gain autonomy for Kurdistan, in north-western Iran. After the Revolution, conflicts between the new central Shiite government and mainly Sunni Kurdistan regarding the role of minorities in the drafting of the constitution, specification of Shiite as the official state religion, and particularly the autonomy of the region, ended in armed clashes between the Revolutionary Guards and the peshmerga (the militia of the PDKI). The PDKI boycotted the referendum of April 1, 1979, when people went to polls to vote for or against the Islamic regime. On August 19, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini called the PDKI the “party of Satan” and declared it “unofficial and illegal.” Mass executions and fighting broke out and continued for several months in the region. By 1983, the PDKI had lost much of its influence in the region. In the years since various leaders of the PDKI have been assassinated. Following internal disputes, the party split in 2006 and two organizations were established as “The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan,” and “The Democratic Party of Kurdistan.”

The Kurdish Problem in the Islamic Republic

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the disagreements between the government of the Shiite Islamic Republic and the organizations in the Kurdish regions of western Iran regarding the rights and roles of minorities in drafting the Constitution; whether the government should be secular or religious, and especially the issue of Kurdish autonomy; and conflicts that resulted in Kurdish political organizations boycotting the April 1979 Referendum on instituting an Islamic Republic; led to serious, and at times armed, clashes between the central government and the Peshmerga (Kurdistan Democratic Party’s armed forces).

On August 19, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini labeled the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), the oldest and most influential Kurdish Party, “the Party of the Devil”, and declared it “unofficial and illegal”, and ordered a military attack on Kurdistan. Mass executions and intense armed clashes continued in the region for months, clashes that resulted in the deaths of a number of civilians and the displacement and relocation of the residents of certain towns. In the next four years, Kurdish parties lost their grip on power in the region to a great extent, and relocated to Iraqi Kurdistan. Since then, a number of their leaders and members have been assassinated outside Iran, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan.

In the years since the Islamic Republic has been in existence, in addition to such entities as the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, Komala (Revolutionary Organization of the Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan), the Koran School led by Ahmad Moftizadeh, Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (which was active in the early years of the Revolution), certain other Kurdish opposition parties were established outside Iran, such as the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK). These parties, with policies and ideologies that are not necessarily similar and uniform, have settled in parts of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in Iraq, such as Koy, Soleimanieh, and in the foothills of Qandil mountains. Some of these parties have undergone splits in recent years. These conflicts have been more about the methods of running the organizations rather than theoretical and ideological differences. These parties have not controlled any part of the Iranian territory since the late 1980’s, and have adopted different strategies in different periods in order to confront the Islamic Republic, advance their political objectives, and recruit members.

Beginning in 2006, the conflicts between the regime and Kurdish parties – who had increased their presence in Iran in reaction to the government intensifying the detention and execution of Kurdish activists and the spread of fundamentalist beliefs in Kurdish regions – entered a new and more serious phase. Kurdish forces, especially the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the PJAK, were attacked several times inside Iran and in Iraqi Kurdistan border regions by border patrol forces and the revolutionary Guards. That same year, Revolutionary Guards conducted armed attacks against the positions of Iranian Kurdish parties inside the borders of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq. The bombing of the Night of Yalda ceremonies (an ancient celebration of the longest night of the year) in 2006, which was also Abdorrahman Qassemlu’s birthday, resulted in the death of five Party members and 2 members of the Iraqi Kurdistan security forces. Kurdish forces also attacked Islamic Republic forces on several occasions. At least dozens were killed on each side in these military clashes.***

In subsequent years, particularly in 2017 and 2018, the clashes continued with less frequency and intensity. The most important of these clashes was the attack by PJAK forces on a border post on July 21, 2018, which resulted in 11 deaths. (Deutsche Welle, July 22, 2018; Reuters, July 21, 2018). On September 8 of that same year, the seat of the Kurdistan Democratic Party – a party that opposed armed struggle and had not participated in the clashes with the Islamic Republic forces – located in Koy in Iraqi Kurdistan, was the target of a rocket attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in which 16 people were killed and 50 injured. (ISNA News Agency, September 14, 2018; Kurdistan u Kurd website (September 8, 2018).

Background of Extrajudicial Killings by the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of politically motivated violence in Iran and around the world. Since the 1979 Revolution, Islamic Republic operatives inside and outside the country have engaged in kidnapping, disappearing, and killing a large number of individuals whose activities they deemed undesirable. The actual number of the victims of extrajudicial killings inside Iran is not clear; however, these murders began in February 1979 and have continued since then, both inside and outside Iran. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has so far identified over 540 killings outside Iran attributed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Dissidents have been assassinated by the agents of the Islamic Republic outside Iran in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Pakistan in Asia; Dubai, Iraq, and Turkey in the Middle East; Cyprus, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain in Europe; and the United States across the Atlantic Ocean. In most cases, there has not been much published, and local authorities have not issued arrest warrants. But documentation, evidence, and traces obtained through investigations conducted by local police and judicial authorities confirm the theory of state committed crimes. In some instances, these investigations have resulted in the expulsion or arrest of Iranian diplomats. In a few cases outside Iran, the perpetrators of these murders have been arrested and put on trial. The evidence presented revealed the defendants’ connection to Iran’s government institutions, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Iran’s Minister of Information.

The manner in which these killings were organized and implemented in Iran and abroad is indicative of a single pattern which, according to Roland Chatelin, the Swiss prosecutor, contains common parameters and detailed planning. It can be ascertained from the similarities between these murders in different countries that the Iranian government is the principal entity that ordered the implementation of these crimes. Iranian authorities have not officially accepted responsibility for these murders and have even attributed their commission to internal strife in opposition groups. Nevertheless, since the very inception of the Islamic Republic regime, the Islamic Republic officials have justified these crimes from an ideological and legal standpoint. In the spring of 1979, Sadeq Khalkhali, the first Chief Shari’a Judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts, officially announced the regime’s decision to implement extrajudicial executions and justified the decision: “ … These people have been sentenced to death; from the Iranian people’s perspective, if someone wants to assassinate these individuals abroad, in any country, no government has any right to bring the perpetrator to trial as a terrorist, because such a person is the implementing agent of the sentence issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Court. Therefore, they are Mahduroddam and their sentence is death regardless of where they are.” More than 10 years after these proclamations, in a speech about the security forces’ success, Ali Fallahian, the regime’s Minister of Information, stated the following regarding the elimination of members of the opposition: “ … We have had success in inflicting damage to many of these little groups outside the country and on our borders.”

At the same time, various political, judicial, and security officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have, at different times and occasions, confirmed the existence of a long term government policy for these extrajudicial killings and in some cases their implementation. 

Read more about the background of extrajudicial killings in the Islamic Republic of Iran by clicking on the left hand highlight with the same title. 

Threats and Extra Judicial Execution of Mr. Loqman Aji 

After the shooting, the attacker immediately “left the area around the town of Qaladiza in Iraqi Kurdistan, went towards the border, and surrendered to the security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other side of the border.

On July 7, 2023, Mr. Loqman Aji and Adel Mohajer (also known as Sarbaz Mohajer), another member of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran, were shot to death in the Halsho area of Qaladiza in the Region of Iraqi Kurdistan. In this incident a former member of the Democratic Party was also injured (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023; Kurdistan Human Rights Network, July 7, 2023; Hengaw Human Rights Organization, July 7, 2023).

Mr. Aji had been threatened to death at least once, shortly before this assassination. According to one of his relatives, three months before this attack, he had told friends and relatives that an unknown person had threatened him by phone from Iran. During that phone call, the threatener had told him, “Your family live here [in Iran]. We can do anything we want to them.”  He then said with a threatening tone, “You want to kill us, I swear I will kill you first.” (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023).

The attacker on July 7, 2023, was a friend of Mr. Aji and Mr. Mohajer. That day, for the second time in a three-week period, he invited these two members of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran and a former member of the Democratic Party to a location in the recreational area of Halsho, near the town of Qaladiza in the Region of Iraqi Kurdistan. The attacker was named Rasul Azarakhsh in the July 7, 2023 report of the Hengaw Human Rights Organization. After his guests arrived at the designated spot, he asked them to go to another place in that same area. During their party, the attacker went back and forth to Qaladiza several times, ostensibly to get more food. At 12:40 pm, he opened fire on his guests. Mr. Aji and Mr. Mohajer were killed and the third person was seriously injured. He was able to survive this attack, leave the area, and find a safe place to hide. At that point, he was able to call agencies of the government of the region and relatives of the victims on his cell phone and to relate what had happened to them. It is not clear how the injured man was able to flee the scene. According to available information, immediately after the shooting, the attacker “left the area around Qaladiza, went to the border, and surrendered to the security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other side of the border.” (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023; Hengaw Human rights Organization, July 7, 2023).

When the military forces of the regional government go there, both men had died. They were taken by ambulance to the medical examiner in Sulaymaniyah. The bodies were released to their families. The medical examiner did not give the families any report of the murder (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023).

Mr. Aji was buried in the “Cemetery for Martyrs of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran” in the town of Koya in Iraqi Kurdistan. Some of his family members who live in Iraqi Kurdistan and his friends and acquaintances in the party organized a memorial gathering for him (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023).

Rasul Azarakhsh, who has escaped to Iran, is the main suspect in the attack on Mr. Aji and Mr. Mohajer. According to one of Mr. Aji’s relatives, a few months after the demonstrations of 2022, the attacker had left Iran and had joined the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran, following a pre-organized plan. Just like Mr. Aji, he was from the Gargul area of Naqadeh and he used this similarity to get close to him. Mr. Azarakhsh used his membership card in the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran (HADKA) to reside in Iraqi Kurdistan. He lived outside the camps of this party (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023). According to another account, Mr. Azarakhsh had previously been a member of HADKA. Six years before this attack, he had returned to Iran and “enlisted in the Revolutionary Corps”. Some time before this assassination attempt, he had returned to the Region of Iraqi Kurdistan “in search of work” and he had settled there (Hengaw Human Rights Organization, July 7, 2023).

Official Reaction of Iran

There is no information about the official reaction of the government of Iran to this killing. However, security forces “disrupted” the memorial gathering organized by the family and “wrapped it up” (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023). Additionally, according to available information, Mamosta Omar Kamusi, the congregational prayer leader of the village of Gargul-e Sofla, “was arrested for participating in the memorial gathering for Loqman Aji and for organizing a memorial ceremony for him in the village mosque.” (Hengaw Human Rights Organization, July 10, 2023; Kurdpa, July 10, 2023).

Iran Newspaper, the official newspaper of the Islamic Republic Government, reported on this incident in their issue number 8226. They named the men “Loqman Garguli and Adel Qaderi”, and they said that these murders had happened as a result of dissension within the Democratic Party. They reported that these men had been killed by a “third person” who was himself a member of the same party. According to this newspaper, following “the failure of last year’s projects aimed at creating anarchy” (2022), plans of “Kurdish secessionist parties” met with opposition from other “rancorous groups”, and resulted in the appearance of “great internal differences” and “operations to physically eliminate dissidents” (Iran Newspaper, July 8, 2023).

Official Reaction of Iraqi Kurdistan

Government officials of the Region of Kurdistan arrested a former member of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran (HADKA), who had survived this attack and interrogated him (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023). There is no information on the arresting organization, on the reason for arrest, on the record of interrogation, nor on the fate of the arrested person.

Reaction of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran 

The Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran issued a statement and in it they relegated responsibility for the “assassination” of their members to the government of Iran. They said this attack was carried out “according to a pre-existing plan”. This Party also asked the relevant organizations within the government of the Region of Iraqi Kurdistan to “stand against the Islamic Republic’s terrorist activities.” (Kurdistan Media, July 7, 2023).

Mr. Asoo Saleh, member of HADKA, was interviewed about the attack on Mr. Aji, and he called his murder a “terrorist act” (Iran International, July 7, 2023).   

Family’s Reaction 

Mr. Aji’s family in Iraqi Kurdistan have not pursued his case in the judicial system of the government of the Region of Iraqi Kurdistan (Center Interview with a relative, June 17, 2023).

According to available information, this case has not been pursued by the family in Iran, either. 

Impacts on Family

There is no information on the possible effects of the murder of Mr. Aji upon his family members.

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*Peshmerga in the Kurdish language refers to armed forces of Kurdish groups in opposition to the government of Iran.