Sardar Saberi, a former member of the PJAK armed group, born in 1994 in Kamyaran, described the process of his joining PJAK in an interview with a reporter from the IKHRW.
According to the IKHRW from Kamyaran, the promise of residence in Europe and a problem-free life in European countries has always been one of the attractive tactics of armed groups to recruit new members. In this method, because the New member does not have a comfortable life and sufficient income in Iran, and works in hard and sometimes fake jobs such as shepherding, laborer etc., without accurate information and awareness of the nature of armed groups such as PJAK, PAK, Komala, and Democrat; is practically deceived and enters the structure of these groups with the aim of reaching Europe. In this path, after entering the headquarters of these groups, the person realized their nature and there is no more news about dispatching to Europe, dollar income and residence card in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. As a result, the person becomes practically a captive force within the sectarian structure of these groups and has no choice but to obey. Protesting, trying to get out and escaping also lead to imprisonment or even eliminating .During this time, the family of the member also has no news of him and does not know whether their child is alive or dead.
Sardar Saberi, a former member of the PJAK armed group, born in 1994 in Kamyaran, described the process of his joining PJAK in an interview with a reporter from the Kurdistan Human Rights Watch of Iran. He said that during adolescence years, he went to the highlands for fun and in the spring to pick medicinal herbs and to accompany animals. Therefore, he had actually witnessed the normal movement of PJAK military group in the heights near their village and sometimes has talked with them. Finally, in May 2011, he deceived after talking with the forces of PJAK and, after leaving the country, entered the headquarters of this group. Mr. Saberi emphasized that with the passage of time and attainment a lot of experience about PJAK and its goals, has realized the true nature of PJAK and came to the conclusion that there was no hope for the future and being sent to Europe. Therefore, once, while he was on guard duty, he left his military equipment and moved towards Iran, and in July 2014, he surrendered himself to the Iranian police at the border.
Question: What made you decide to join PJAK? Did you have any information about the nature of this group? Were you interested in military affairs and living in the highland?
Sardar Saberi: The fact is that I did not know at all what kind of group PJAK was at that time. Of course, I had heard their name and sometimes I saw them when I went sheepherding and I knew some very superficial things, but I had no intention of joining PJAK at all. that is; I only saw them in the mountains, but I didn’t know exactly about the structure, goals and nature of PJAK. My membership happened in 2011 and at that time, I had talked with several members of PJAK and they constantly told me about a comfortable life, freedom, equality, etc. because I was tired of shepherding and hard agricultural work, their words were interesting to me. The promise of living in Europe was very attractive to me and was easily deceived as I was a village youth. In those early days of conversation and membership, I didn’t know at all that PJAK was also a branches of the PKK. I didn’t want to contact them at all; after all the promises they made I decided to become a member; they told me that beginning we had go to Iraq and after completing the training, If I want, they will send me to Europe. Because I didn’t have a passport, they decided to take me out of the country illegally with them. I really still don’t know what I was thinking with myself that I did such a stupidity thing! At that time with all the problems ;at least I had my father’s house ;but because of a wrong decision I left everything. In rural life, I had minimal income; but upon entering PJAK, the same little income also was lost.
Question: How was your life there? Explain fully.
sardar Saberi:We did not have a special situation and all the days of our lives were repetitive and monotonous. There are no basic facilities of rural life as there are no facilities for living in the mountains and some mountain settlements! As soon as we reached Kurdistan region, they took me to Qandil region. After two days, the training courses started. From the beginning of the training courses, every morning before sunrise, we started exercising and running in the mountains. After that, we had to go around and collect wood for tea and cooking. As soon as breakfast was over, Political and ideological classes started. Something I never understood. They talked about Kurdistan and their leader, Ocalan, and these issues. They gave us books to read, and I always told them that I didn’t understand anything from these books. In addition to ideological classes, there were military classes and classes for working with weapons, mostly Kalashnikov, and the training was really hard. We did not have a peaceful and trouble-free life. All these activities were mandatory. From morning to evening, Physical work, military drills, and useless repetitive classes continued.
Question: You joined PJAK with the goal of going to Europe, having a comfortable life, and achieving freedom, did they fulfill their promise?
sardar Saberi No, not at all. There was no news of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, let alone Europe! We also did not experience a comfortable life in PJAK headquarters. Europe became a dream in the first weeks. After a few months, I was losing my patience and every day told them that I came here to go to Europe, Why don’t you send me? But they were laughing at me all the time and it didn’t matter to them at all what anyone said; they just wanted to keep us there anyway. Every day that passed I realized my own stupidity more and more; I Recently realized What disaster I have caused to myself and my family. Their laughter made me more angry; as they realized my naivety.
Question: What happened that made you decide to escape? And how did you escape?
Sardar Saberi: As I said at the beginning, I had really acted foolishly. In one emotional moment, I made a decision and ruined my life. The stupidity that caused me to be thirty years behind in my life even though I was only there for 3 years. I no longer thought about going to Europe, and it didn’t matter if I wanted to think about their imaginary comfortable life and freedom. The repetitive life and limited space of PJAK had become unbearable for me. I just wanted to return to Iran. Day and night, I only thought about my family. For this reason, I decided to go back to my family Anyway. The night I decided to run away, It was my turn to guard. I took the opportunity and left the base; as much as possible, I ran away and entered a village. When the ASAYESH agents of the region found out where I escaped from, they immediately sent me to Sulaymaniyah to be safe from them. I stayed there almost a week until my family followed me and then I easily came to the border and handed myself over to the Iranian Border Guard. As soon as I arrived in Iran, was no longer worried. I was ready to be imprisoned in Iran for membership of PJAK, but I did not want to return to Qandil.
Question: How were you treated when you came to Iran? And what did you do after that?
sardar Saberi: I am telling the truth. When I entered Iran, Iran’s military and disciplinary forces did not treat me badly; before I returned, I was saying in my mind ,What trouble will I suffer? Is it possible that I will be tortured or not?! Will they hang me in solitary confinement?! Or will I have to be imprisoned for several years?! All these thoughts of mine were exchanged there among the group members and everyone was afraid of these issues; but it was not true at all. These thoughts were born from the sick mind of PJAK officials; with this method prevent members from escaping. They scared everyone from returning to Iran in order to preserve their few forces. I went to Sanandaj Revolutionary Court only once; the judge told me as you have not committed any crime and you are young; you wouldn’t have any problems and could continue my life. now ,I am with my family unlike there that I was sleeping under a tree in the cold mountain air ; I have a house and and I am engaged in agriculture again. There is no longer any news of fighter jets, Turkish bombings, death in the mountains, and PJAK’s ridiculous political classes.
