Statement from the Erbil Asayish on the assassination of Musa Babakhani

The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-Iran) has called on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to make efforts to find the perpetrators behind the assassination of a senior of the party, according to a statement.

The KDP-Iran announced in a statement earlier that Mousa Babakhani, a member of the party's central committee, had been “kidnapped since last Thursday, 5 August 2021, "by two people linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Babakhani, who served as a Peshmerga fighter for the KDP-Iran for over 20 years, was found dead on Saturday in a room at Gule Sulaimani hotel, with signs of torture seen on his body, the statement explained.

The party said in a separate statement on Saturday that it values the efforts by the relevant authorities of the KRG for investigating the incident, urging the regional government to find the perpetrators behind it.

Erbil Security Directorate said in a statement that it had been informed of a murder case in Gule Sulaimani hotel and that the special teams soon found out that the victim was an Iranian Kurdish citizen identified as Mousa Babakhani, adding that an investigation had been launched into the incident, the outcome of which would be revealed to the public after the investigation is concluded.

Born in 1981, Mousa Babakhani was from the Kermanshah province of Iranian Kurdistan. He started to serve in the ranks of the KDP-Iran when he was 18 years old, the party said in a statement.

Iran has allegedly targeted a number of officials and members of the Kurdish opposition parties previously. On 14 July 2021, a group of unidentified gunmen shot Kurdish political activist Bahruz Rahimi dead.

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