The experience of the Babakhani sisters in their membership in the terrorist group PAK, as narrated by Souma Babakhani
The family membership of three sister in the terrorist group PAK; a shocking narrative from the account of Souma Babakhani, which is published for the first time by the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch. Souma enters the Kurdistan region and the PAK headquarters to monitor the status of her sisters in order to see them and ascertain their fate. However, she herself becomes ensnared in the hellish compound and has been present in PAK zone for approximately two years and nine months. Ms. Souma Babakhani, born in 1995 in Sanandaj, has provided shocking details about the atmosphere of PAK bases for the audience in an interview with the IKHRW reporter. She emphasizes that due to the affiliation of two of her sisters with the PAK group alongside Ribaz Sharifi (a senior member of PAK), she was in communication with the forces of PAK and, under their guidance, legally exited the country on December 3, 2018, to meet with her sisters. Due to a lack of awareness regarding the situation in the Kurdistan Region, she directly approached the headquarters of the organization and, following a meeting, was not granted permission to return, resulting in her compelled enlistment into the group. She has described the organization’s structure as restrictive and a violation of individual freedoms.
Question: What factor led you to decide to join PAK?
Babakhani:I traveled to the Kurdistan region to meet my sisters who had recently joined PAK. At that time, I was gravely concerned for their safety and sought to ascertain their location and condition. When I arrived there, I quickly recognized that the situation was significantly altered. In fact, after meeting them, I was introduced to Ribaz Sharifi and other unit personnel, and I was somewhat compelled to enlist in the ranks of the group. I was not granted permission to exit. My sisters and I, as new recruits, found ourselves in a kind of unfamiliar and constrained battlefield. We were under significant stress. On the other hand, I was at least relieved to be alongside my sisters and to have awareness of their fate and well-being. Nothing in the environment was appealing to us. Membership in an armed group in the mountains, with minimal resources, holds no allure. Our days passed in a repetitive and arduous manner. There was no hope for us.
Question: What experiences did you have after enlistment?
Babakhani: After enlistment, life became exceedingly arduous and grueling. Initially, I operated in the baking section and in the fields, but the workload was so intense that I gradually experienced profound fatigue and despair. Days became a grueling and exhausting routine, and this condition severely weakened my morale. Hundreds of women, like myself, worked as if in servitude, with no available amenities.
Question: How did you successfully disengage from PAK?
Babakhani: After two years and nine months, I have reached the conclusion that I can no longer sustain this condition. Gradually, I have come to realize that this existence is exceedingly discouraging and fruitless. After prolonged negotiations and the pressures exerted upon me, I was ultimately granted permission to depart, and this experience provided me with a sense of liberation and freedom. Then I returned to Iran.
