Danial Doosti was born in 2000 in a village near Mariwan, Kurdistan province of Iran. Danial is one of the hundreds of Iranian Kurdish minors that have disappeared throughout the years as a result of PJAK’s recruitment policies, that include filling certain quotas ordered by Qandil to the smaller groups roaming the region, by recruiting teenagers by all means: voluntarily, forcefully, and through deception. PJAK has now admitted to the Doosti family that their son has died in their ranks. However, he was clearly a minor upon recruitment.
In an exclusive interview with the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch reporter, Mr. Iskander Doosti, Danial’s father, stated that “Daniel has never gone to PJAK voluntarily; Rather, I’m sure he was kidnapped.”
“My son was thirteen, nearly fourteen years old and he knew nothing about this group and, like any other child, he went to middle school, and lived in the village.”
Following the interview, Mr. Dosti strongly criticized the security of young people and children living in the border areas of the country, emphasizing that “if there is security, how can these elements roam freely in the mountains and among the people, extorting money from them?” Recruit and even kidnap children with lies and deception about giving them life abroad? Daniel had no problems at home and with his family. We lived in the village. But Daniel was supplied in every way and it was not possible for him to be led this way. He would not even spend the night at his friends’ homes because he was so attached to us”
“PJAK always seems to use these policies, such as using girls who are members of this group, to deceive boys who have no knowledge of struggle or war and politics.” Iskander Doosti and Nasrin (Danial’s mother) said in response to our reporter’s question if they were pursuing to determine Daniel’s fate, “So far we have been looking for Daniel. We went wherever we could think of. We repeatedly visited Qandil, Sulaymaniyah and other Iraqi cities. But PJAK denied for a long time that my son is among them.They constantly denied it. But after much follow-up, they admitted that our son was with them.”
“I tried very hard to bring our son back, but in the end the only answer they gave us was ‘your son is no more’. Because he was killed in one of the clashes. But there was no news of Danial being killed. They did not show us a corpse or determine his burial place. Just as easily, our teenager was deceived and killed and the news of his death was announced to us… He did not even get a proper memorial as other members of the group do. They took what meant most to me in life, and he meant nothing to them…. nothing….”
“Since then, life has become bitter for the whole family and it can no longer be said that we are living. We are just waiting. Our child has been illegally recruited by a militant group, and we have nowhere to even complain to. There is no security here at all. If so, could these terrorists move easily? After that incident, we suffer from mental and psychological problems. We are no longer eager to talk to our other children. We no longer have mental health. Our only request is that if our son is alive, they will give us a news! Or to finally know where our son was buried!”
