ConflictBarometer_2016

MIDDLE EAST AND MAGHREB
ning for the election of the Assembly of Experts. Throughout
the year, the government targeted opposition activists,
using primarily judicial means. In February, the Islamic Revolutionary
Court in Tehran sentenced the president of the Iranian
Teachers Trade Association, Ismail Abdi, who had been
arrested in June 2015, to six years in prison, accusing him of
organizing and participating in illegal gatherings. Journalist
and researcher Said Madani was exiled to Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan
province, in southern Iran on March 17, after he had
served a four-year prison sentence for ''propaganda against
the state'' and ''acting against national security''.
Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, a dual citizen of Iran and the UK, was
detained at Tehran International Airport on April 3 when trying
to return to the UK. Authorities accused her of operating
a foreign network allegedly aiming to overthrow the Islamic
Republic.
On April 20, Narges Mohammadi, a journalist and spokesperson
for Iran's Centre for Human Rights Defenders, was sentenced
to a total of 16 years in prison based on three different
charges, including activism against death penalty. On August
23, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unit responsible
for internet surveillance, reportedly arrested 450 individuals
for their social network activities. On October 15, the
Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced labor rights activists
Jafar Azimzadeh and Shapour Ehsani-Rad to eleven years in
prison, based on different charges, such as organizing and operating
the Free Workers Union of Iran, an illegal group. Similarly,
journalist Farzad Pourmoradi, working for media outlets
in Kermanshah province, was arrested for ''anti-government
publicity” and insulting government officials, on November
2. 13 days later, the UN General Assembly's Third Committee
adopted a resolution expressing serious concern over numerous
human rights violations in Iran and called on Iran to allow
the UN special rapporteur to visit the country. On December
4, members of the Tehran Bus Driver's Union protested for
pending housing payments in front of Tehran's city hall. Police
forces dispersed the protests, injuring several people.
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First minor clashes between the PDKI and Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) took place in late February and early
March in the West Azerbaijan province. PAK's armed wing, the
Kurdistan Freedom Eagles for East Kurdistan (HAKR), claimed
responsibility for the attack on IRGC forces in Sanandaj, Kurdistan
province, on April 19, which allegedly killed two. On
May 4, PDKI and IRGC clashed in Sardasht, West Azerbaijan,
leaving at least eight soldiers dead and dozens wounded.
In June, tensions between the PDKI and the government
peaked. On June 6, PDKI fighters killed six IRGC soldiers near
Mount Shaho, Kermanshah province. Heavy clashes on June
16 and 17 near the city of Oshnavieh, West Azerbaijan, resulted
in the death of six PDKI fighters and three IRGC soldiers.
In a series of heavy fights along the border to Iraq in
the Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan provinces between June
26 and 28, up to 35 combatants, mostly PDKI fighters, were
killed and approx. 200 were wounded. IRGC deployed ground
troops and shelled PDKI positions using airstrikes and artillery.
PDKI also mobilized non-violent support in the Kurdish areas.
For instance, on July 13, the group initiated peaceful
general strikes in the cities of Sanandaj, Piranshahr, and Nagahdeh
in West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces, to commemorate
the former PDKI chairman Abdulrahman Ghassemlou,
who had been assassinated in Vienna, Austria, in 1989.
On September 7, Iranian border guards killed at least two
PDKI members while they were crossing the border from Iraq
near Sardasht. eth
IRAQ (SHIITE MILITANT GROUPS)
Intensity: 2 | Change: | Start: 2004
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
Al-Mukhtar Army, Asaib Ahl al-Haqq,
Mahdi Army, Shiite militias vs. government
system/ideology, national power
IRAN (PDKI, PAK)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1979
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
PDKI, PAK vs. government
system/ideology, national power
The conflict over national power and the orientation of the
political system between the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
(PDKI) and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), on the
one hand, and the government, on the other, re-emerged as a
violent crisis.
Throughout the year, PDKI and PAK repeatedly deployed
Peshmerga fighters to Kurdish areas in western Iranian
provinces.
On February 25, the PDKI announced it would resume its
armed resistance against the government, claiming that the
government had failed to improve the living conditions and
political participation of Kurds in Iran. The statement ended
a 20 year-long ceasefire. The announcement was followed by
the party's boycott of parliamentary elections on February 26.
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The non-violent crisis over the orientation of the political system
and national power between Shiite militants such as al-
Mukhtar Army, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Hashid al-Shaabi, which are
organized in the People Mobilization Force (PMF), and Mahdi
Army, on the one hand, and the government, on the other,
continued.
After the so-called Islamic State (IS) had launched its offensive
in June 2014, the Iraqi government turned to Shiite militias
to support the security forces [→ Iraq, Syria et al. (IS)].
While the relationship between the parties remained nonviolent,
fatal incidents occurred in the fight against IS. The
militias were backed by Iran and had been crucial in reinforcing
Iraqi troops to retake areas in Iraq. Furthermore, the distinction
between state security forces and militiamen often
remained unclear. Several sources reported that fighters using
vehicles flagged with Shiite militia banners also sported
government uniforms and patches. The legal status of the
140,000 man-strong PMF within the Iraqi Army was debated
throughout the year.
In January, the government started forming three brigades
of Shiite militias under the official directive of Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi in Kirkuk Governorate. Since then, IS fre-