Jakan Baran (Hossein Bagheri), a Kurdish activist and political asylum seeker from Ilam, Ilam Province, who has been living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since 2019, has been missing since 23 March, sparking concerns about his safety and whereabouts.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Baran was forced to flee the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region due to security threats from the Islamic Republic of Iran and intended to seek refuge in a European country via the Turkish border.
However, communication with him ceased after he sent his location at the Kurdistan Region-Turkey border to friends, indicating he would cross shortly.
Despite the passage of more than two weeks, efforts by Baran’s friends to locate him have been unsuccessful, raising fears for his welfare, especially in light of the threats he received from security and judicial officials in Ilam during the anti-government uprising of Women, Life, Freedom.
Baran, who was detained several times by security forces in Ilam between 2017 and 2019 due to his political activism, was forced to leave Iran about five years ago.
Since then, he has been living as a political asylum seeker in Iraqi Kurdistan, where as a disabled refugee he has staged several sit-ins and hunger strikes to protest the difficult conditions faced by political asylum seekers in the region and the lack of international support.
