Abdul-Rahman Moradi, 31, is one of the persons that was wounded during the Mahabad uprising. He was shot with a pellet gun and had 32 pellets in his body. After laying low for 22 days, he was forced to leave the country.
Abdul-Rahman said that due to taking part in protest gatherings that sparked after the suspicious death of Farinaz Khosravani, he was under the prosecution of security forces. He is one of the students of executed Kurdish political prisoner Mansour Arvand. After Mansour’s death Abdul-Rahman had opened a club as a tribute to his teacher.
Abdul-Rahman said: After a photo showing me wounded was posted on social media, I was under the prosecution of intelligence forces.
He said: Through a telephone call I realized that I mustn’t be seen at all or else I would be arrested. Because security forces were present in hospitals and clinics, I wasn’t able to refer to the hospital to eject the pellets from my body. Therefore I referred to one of my friend’s house who was a doctor. He was able to eject some 15 pellets from my body, yet because he lacked the proper equipment, 6 pellets remained in my body.
Abdul-Rahman added: When we reached the gathering point, the special guard forces were opening fire on the people, directly targeting men, women and even children. Even a 60 year old women near me was wounded.
The people had only gathered to protest and didn’t want to clash with the state forces. However, state forces used tear gas and pellet guns against the people.
On 7 May, the gathering of the Mahabad people outside the Tara Hotel in protest to the suspicious death of Farinaz Khosravani went violent as a result of the state forces’ interference.
Mahabad citizens in this gathering called for the prosecution of the perpetrator of this crime.
Based on the latest statistics, some 184 individuals were arrested during the Kurdish protests in the cities of Mahabad, Sanandaj, Sardasht and Piranshahr. 31 were wounded and one of the wounded by the name of Akam Talaj died.