The repetitive method of PAK to deceive Iranian Kurdish youth like Mobin Aziznejad.
Mobin Aziznejad, born in 2001 and a former member of PAK, is one of the young individuals who was deceived by PAK’s promises and was a member of this group for a while.
According to the reporter of the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch in Sanandaj, the PAK armed group employs various tactics to attract Iranian Kurdish youth. Deception, abduction, seduction, and various financial promises are among the PAK methods used to attract Kurdish youth. This group, in order to solve its human resource problem, promises youth that it will provide them the opportunities for residency in Europe and receive foreign currency salaries. However, the Kurdish youth realize the falsehood of these promises in the early days of presence at the PAK headquarters and try to leave their bases. As a result, PAK puts pressure on the members and their families and threatens them, and the members are actually held as prisoners in solitary confinement and escaping from its bases practically becomes a dream. Currently, a significant number of Iranian nationals are practically imprisoned by PAK and are not allowed to leave and to talk to their families. In several cases and interviews, the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch has addressed the situation of Iranian nationals who present in PAK headquarters.
Mobin Aziznejad, born in 2001 and a former member of PAK, is one of the young individuals who was deceived by PAK’s promises and was a member of this group for a while. She returned to Iran on November 10, 2022. Due to dropping out of school, unemployment, and activity in the virtual space, she became acquainted with the PAK group through Instagram and after that, she got in touch with one of the members of the PAK ARAM group. The members of the PAK group were connected with Mobin, promoted enticing advertisements for her, such as sufficient salary, assistance in dispatching to Europe, and obtaining asylum. As a result of this advertisement, Mobin was attracted to the PAK and With the guidance of some its members and other organizational members of this group in Sanandaj, a person named Sirus Farhadi, also with the assistance of human traffickers, was crossed the border at Sardasht and joined the PAK group. This event took place on December 24, 2020. After completing military, political, and ideological courses in PAK and nearly three years of collaboration with them, eventually Mobin escaped from the group and by surrendering to the forces of the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party, after 16 days of detention and interrogation, it was possible to contact with his father. Eventually, with departing of Mobin’s father to Iraq and the guarantee of a relative residing in Iraq, she was released from detention and entered Iran on November 10, 2022, by referring to the Iranian consulate and obtaining a travel document.
Question: What made you decide to join the PAK group? Did you already know this group? Were your relatives present in this group?
Mobin Aziznejad: I used to follow their social media pages; they usually posted interesting photos and videos. This reason was attractive to me and made me join PAK. I wasn’t familiar with the principles of this group. I had dropped out of school and was unemployed. I had no knowledge about the status of these groups and their differences and similarities with each other. None of my relatives were members of this group either. In fact, I was deceived by the superficial attractions of this group, and once I joined, I realized that I had been fooled and tried to get out the of it.
Question: What videos and photos were released that seemed so attractive to you?
Mobin Aziznejad: The videos that they made themselves were attractive to me. The appearance of the soldiers there and the exercises they were doing and… seemed interesting to me. After that, I got in touch with them and we started talking. They told me that you can join us and have good conditions just like all these peshmergas, and it would be very easy for you to come here and live like them. In fact, they deceived me and promised an comfortable life so that I could leave Iran illegally and through smuggling.
Question: What promises did they give you?
Mobin Aziznejad: They generally said they would provide me with the conditions for a good life. They emphasized that I could go to foreign countries and have a more comfortable life. Something I didn’t have in Iran. Of course, I believed it and didn’t realize that life in the mountains is nothing but hardship. Membership in a paramilitary group can’t be easy!
Question: What happened after you contacted that group? explain in detail.
Mobin Aziznejad: When I got in touch and decided to join, they told me to go to Sardasht, and specificed a location where several smugglers were present to take me across the border. This means that I crossed the border illegally.
Question: After you crossed the border, what happened and where did you go?
Mobin Aziznejad: They took me to Erbil, as all their offices and headquarters are located there. After a night, I was taken near the Kirkuk because they also had a base there. However, after a few days, we were moved again near the city of Erbil. During the first few days, I was constantly moving around and didn’t have any stability.
Question: As you said, before joining, you had seen a series of pictures and videos that were appealing to you, and of course, the members of the group had made promises to you that would achieve them. When you became a member, did any of these promises come true, or was the living situation of the people similar to those pictures and videos?
Mobin Aziznejad: neither the living conditions ,nor the food ,nor even the promise that we could go abroad, none of them were real. In the headquarters of PAK, I realized the reality of these groups and the false promises of their members. In fact, I was practically in a barrack, and life in it is not easy. PAK also had a plan for the members and obviously, it wasn’t possible they send us to Europe! If we went to Europe, their headquarters would be empty. These things hadn’t occurred to me before leaving Iran, and I realized all these contradictions in Erbil, which was too late!
Question: Did you ask them what happened to those promises you gave me?
Mobin Aziznejad: I asked the question frequently; However, they didn’t provide a proper answer and said that the situation is like this and that I had to stay here. They said that since your term is three years, you should stay here for three years. After that, you can decide what to do. Actually, I was imprisoned for three years. These things were not mentioned in the promises before leaving Iran! We weren’t supposed to be mandatory members of the PAK for three years; We were supposed to be sent to Europe; but in PAK headquarters, there was no sign of European prosperity.
Question: How were your living conditions when you were there? What classes were held for you, and what did they teach you?
Mobin Aziznejad: We didn’t do anything special, just daily routine, attending training classes such as shooting training, sports, operations training, Kurdish language training, etc. These programs were just to fill our time and nothing else. They didn’t want us to think, and constantly filled our time with aimless classes to keep us from considering escape or criticizing! No one benefited from these classes!
Question: As you mentioned, they showed videos and photos of their operations. during your presence in the PAK headquarters, did the operational forces of this group engage in any activities?
Mobin Aziznejad: I had only heard that previously some of the boys and girls had been sent inside Iran to carry out operations; But during my presence in the PAK, I didn’t see or hear anything that they did. They only said among themselves that a group already participated in the operation and returned, but it was unclear who they were. That photos, videos, and external charms were also to deceive people like me so they could recruit new members.
Question: How was your living condition in the group’s bases and how did you live?
Mobin Aziznejad: The condition was very ordinary and below the level of a normal life in Iran! In fact, we lived in poverty! For example, We didn’t have much to eat, and typically we ate simple foods like beans and peas; there were no luxurious meals there! Once Every few months, we ate meat and our living conditions were quite ordinary. Overall, no one had any issues with me; We were just living and learning, and nothing significant happened.
Question: As you said, they told you that had to stay there for three years; After those three years, did you request to not continue anymore and wanted to return to country? How were you treated?
Mobin Aziznejad: Yes, after three years, I told them I want to return to Iran. I followed up several times, but they constantly ignored my request and kept telling me to change my decision and stay here!; They promised my living condition would improve a lot. Of course, my three-year membership hadn’t yet expired, but I could no longer bear living there, so I decided to escape and introduced myself to ASAYISH )the Kurdistan Democratic Party(. Since I had escaped from the PAK ;they had collusion with each other and detained me for almost 16 days and interrogated; After realizing I hadn’t done anything against them, allowed me to contact my family and return to Iran. Overall, I was treated well in Iran; I was only fined for leaving the country illegally, and since I hadn’t committed any wrongdoing with the PAK, I didn’t encounter any major problem.
