Behrouz Rahimi, the Iranian Dissident Whose Death Bullet Might Trigger a Marathon of Assassinations in Iran

Iranian dissident Behrouz Rahimi was killed months after receiving death threats from Iranian security as a member of the Kurdistan Free Life Party, which launched rocket attacks on its headquarters in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.

On July 16, 2021, a video of Rahimi's assassination, in which he was shot in the back by a pistol (with a silencer) from a black BMW, was posted on the media, and after being taken to Shorsh Hospital in Sulaimaniyah, he died of his wounds.

 

Refugee Exhibition

Rahimi, known as "Ribin," a 49-year-old Kurdish nationalist born in the Iranian city of Diwandara, has been living in Iraq's Kurdistan region for 10 years as a political refugee in Sulaimaniyah.

One of the most prominent Kurds opposed to the Iranian regime, he was forced to leave the country after opposing the regime there and took refuge in Sulaimaniyah, where he increased his political activity until he was placed on the regime's wanted list.

Kurdish political activist Amjad Hossein Benahi wrote on his Twitter page that Rahimi was "a member of the Kurdistan Free Life Party and that relatives of this political activist believe he was assassinated by elements of the Iranian regime."

Rahimi and his wife were registered as political asylum seekers in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Rahimi worked in a pharmaceutical store in Jamala area of Sulaimaniyah, as his deteriorating physical condition recently prompted him to work as a guard for the warehouse near his home.

A number of Persian and English-speaking news sites circulated photographs of Rahimi, showing the latter wearing Kurdish military uniforms worn by members of the Kurdish armed wings.

Meanwhile, Saberin News, the media arm of pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, reported that Rahimi had recently participated in an electronic conference of the People's Mujahedeen, claiming that he was "involved in terrorist attacks inside Iran."

A video showing the moment of Rahimi's assassination

 

He Was Threatened

Rahimi's wife, Zulekha Ronahi Nasseri, said in an interview on July 16, 2021, "When I saw Behrouz in the hospital, he was lying half dead in bed."

"At first I thought he was unconscious, but I immediately noticed that his abdomen and lumbar organs were pierced, he was hit four times in the back by the back, the main organs in his back and abdomen almost disintegrated, and he lost a lot of blood," she said.

"The specialist asked to speak to him before he was transferred to the operating room so that he would not sleep, but he died in the hospital after five hours of resistance, despite the efforts of the doctors due to the severity of his injuries and severe bleeding," Shenahi Nasseri said.

His wife describes the attack: "At around 12 p.m., as he was about to enter the company's workshop, he was shot from inside a car, because the gun sounded muffled, no one noticed the incident at first, and the attackers left immediately."

"About three months ago, Iranian intelligence forces, in addition to harassing and threatening through virtual networks and anonymous numbers, this time contacted me directly," Shenahi Nasseri said.

"They offered us cooperation first in exchange for financial and economic facilities, and she confirmed that her husband firmly rejected the offer of cooperation. A few days after the first call, this time instead of providing cooperation, death was explicitly threatened."

"Iran's Intelligence Ministry is primarily responsible for the assassination of her husband," Nasseri said.

 

Assassination Details 

However, several changes launched on July 16, 2021 by a member of the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Observatory, Khanyar Kosha (Xaniar Kosha), spoke of new information concerning Rehimi and the possible perpetrator of his assassination.

"Rahimi has been a member of the Kurdistan Free Life Party for years, but he broke up for reasons related to the party's internal discipline and its relationship with women," Kosha said in a series of tweets.

Rahimi was secretly traveling to Iran to meet his family inside Iranian territory and participate in Nowruz (Persian New Year's Day celebrated by the Kurds), but the Kurdistan Free Life party protested, and then did not participate in this year's holiday, he said.

He said his separation from the Kurdish party made him not participate in political activities for years, and the organization's member raised the possibility that the Kurdistan Free Life Party was involved in Rahimi's assassination, not Iran.

"Regardless of Rahimi's character, which had little political weight, one person was finally killed and its dimensions must be clarified, and it is necessary to know who benefited from Behrouz's death," Kosha said.

"The IRGC recently launched a plan to track Iranian dissidents inside Iraqi territory, as President-elect Ibrahim Raisi officially took office in early August 2021," a press report quoted an unidentified Iraqi national security source as saying.

The report, published on July 16, 2021, quoted the source as saying: "The new plan launched by the Revolutionary Guard during visits by its leaders to Baghdad, where they met with leaders of armed groups and factions in the Popular Mobilization, and discussed with them the nature of the presence of Iranian opponents in the Kurdistan region and some areas of the capital."

"The new plan included preparing new lists to prosecute opposition elements, activating other regulations that were frozen, and reporting to a special division of the Revolutionary Guard to make the necessary decisions," the security source added, noting that "The Iraqi security services, especially in the Kurdistan region, have received indications of this plan from other parties."