The father of Idris Shafiei Zarne told the story of his son in a call with the reporter of Human Rights Watch of Iran Kurdistan as follows:
Which human rights organization should be complained to? My wife wanted to go to Qandil and set herself on fire because of her son’s grief. What kind of justice is this?? How does this nonsense serve the Kurdish people in any way but heartbreak and loss??
When Idris finished his university, he joined the army and he disappeared after a few months.
At first we all felt that he was a deserter, but it was impossible that he had served for two years and wanted to escape for only the remainder of 2/3 months. That’s why we became suspicious and decided to look for our son, but unfortunately there was no news of him. His phone was off and nobody had heard of him, not even his closest friends.
We never thought that my son became a member of PJAK because he had no interest in such matters and always stated that he wanted to work after university and military service. He wanted to get his military service over with, so he could start his career, and dreamt of buying a nice car and starting a family of his own.
None of us had ever heard that he wanted to become a member of a group or a party. He did not follow Kurdish news. We didn’t know about our son for several months, but because he was a soldier in the border area of Sardasht and we were talking to a number of friends, we suspected that it was possible that our son had been deceived into becoming a member of PJAK.
After much follow-up, we found out that my son was kidnapped by PJAK in his same clothes when he was in military service and came out of the barracks for an hour’s leave. He was told to either come with them, or die on the spot. Since he was alone, and familiar to the dangers of border patrol, he did what he had to do, I guess….
My wife and I traveled to different parts of Iraq several times. Finally, PJAK accepted that they took my son out of Iran with them when he was in the army, but no matter how much we insisted to see our son, they did not accept it at all. In a few years, we went to Qandil several times, but they did not allow us to meet our son again.
We were already disappointed, the only thing we could do was to just wait for our son to return one day, but unfortunately, in the midst of all these years we waited, we were only informed that Idris was killed, so we went to Qandil again to check his health.
We inquired about the matter, but they did not give us any answer and told us that you did not look for your son, he is already dead. But if they were telling the truth, why didn’t they show us a corpse or a grave? No, they even told us where and how he was killed, I got into a lot of trouble with them there, but their only response was to threaten me and my wife, so my wife tried to set herself on fire there, but fortunately, I was able to save her before any harm was done.
After the abduction of our child, the news of his death has disturbed the spirit of the whole family to the point that several months ago, my wife, who couldn’t bear to live because of the mourning of her child, committed self-immolation again. Fortunately, we were able to stop her, and she has survived even though she was wounded.
Which human rights organization should I complain to? How can I make my voice known to the world when they kidnapped my child, killed him and even made his mother reach the border of insanity to the point of self-immolation??
IKHRW footnote
What is clear and has been mentioned many times in domestic media circles is that the development and economic stability of the border areas is considered a priority for the Iranian government.
If there was development and stability in these areas, maybe the life story of some Kurdish youths would not be directed towards membership in Kurdish militia groups.
Perhaps, if the national and provincial officials were thinking of solving the economic and livelihood problems of the people of these regions, today no young person would be forced to leave his family and join such groups due to the lack of jobs and income.
