Iranian government’s agents set fire on Kurdistan forest, a PDKI official says

22:08 - 28 August 2018
Kurdistan Press Agency: The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI)’s Security Department director unveils the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s meetings planning to destroy Kurdistan’s forest.

Following the death of four Kurdish environmental activists in Mariwan, Mohammad Sahebi, the PDKI’s Security Department Director, through publishing a post on Facebook, points the finger at the IRGC for setting fire on the Kurdistan forest cover.

“The Iranian government every year secretly put forest areas in Kurdistan to flames through its agents”, read the Sahebi’s post.

\"\"Mohammad Sahebi, the PDKI’s Security Department Director
“During this year security meeting of the IRGC’s defensive and military council in the west of Iran in which the IRGC’s top officials including Osanlou and Rahimi attended, they made a decision on making a secretive, step-by-step plan to set fire to the Kurdistan forest areas,” he unveiled.

Mohammad Taghi Osanlou and Mohammad Hosein Rajabi are relatively the IRGC’s Hamza Headquarter Commander and the IRGC’s Kurdistan Baitolmoghadas Commander.

On August 25, four environmental activists, all of them from Mariwan, dead while they were trying to put a blaze at Mariwan forest under control. Sharif Bajoor, Omid Hohnepooshi, Rahmat Hakiminia and Mohammad Pajoohi lost their lives in their effort to tackle a blaze at the forest around Pile and Selsi in Mariwan.

According to local sources, the fire was started when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shelled the forest around Pile and Selsi.

Based on eyewitnesses, the Iranian government’s military and security organizations are responsible for majority of forest fires in Kurdish regions; people blame them to not try to put the fires under control.