Iran regime asked to explain Kurdish journalist’s death during an army operation

NCRI – Reporters Without Borders issued a statement on August 11 condemning the death of Ayfer Serçe, a young Kurdish journalist and activist, during an army operation against Kurdish rebels on 24 July in Keleres, in the north western province of Azarbaijan, and called on the Iranian regime to provide an explanation.

A Turkish national, Serçe worked for the Firat Haber Ajansi (Euphrates News Agency – FHA) using the pseudonym of Silan Aras. She had gone to Azarbaijan in early July to investigate suicides by women in the region, which has a sizeable Kurdish population.

“We call on the authorities to establish the facts of this case,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We do not yet know if her death was linked to her work as a journalist but this possibility should definitely not be ignored.”

The FHA has accused the Iranian military of killing Serçe. It also reported that when her relatives went to the hospital in the nearby town of Salmas with the aim of collecting and repatriating her body, they were told the Iranian authorities had taken it away. The family was also stopped and searched when they arrived in the town.