Sedigh Kamangar

Sedigh Kamangar, known as Kak Sedigh ( 1946-1989) (Kurdish: سدیق که مانگه ر; Persian: صدیق کمانگر), was one of the founders and leaders of Komalah, a left-wing Kurdish political party. He was assassinated in Iraqi Kurdistan by an agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Private life

Kak Sedigh was the seventh child and the eldest son of a large family of 10 siblings. He was born in the village of Aferyan in the Kurdistan province of Iran but due to his father’s career, spent most of his childhood and teenage years moving around different cities in Eastern Kurdistan.

He studied Law at the University of Tehran and graduated in 1971. He later started his own law firm in 1974 and worked as a successful lawyer in the city of Sanandaj (Sena).

Political Struggle

As a young teenager Kak Sedigh had always been curious about the society and questioned its different patterns. His political engagement enhanced during his time at university where he came to know other likeminded students. In 1969 Kak Sedigh and a group of Kurdish friends founded a political party which later came to be called Komalah. Komalah was a socialist and Marxist group, which separated itself from the Soviet bloc, and worked for a society based on liberty, equality and social justice. In 1983 Komalah and other Iranian leftist groups formed the Communist Party of Iran.

Kak Sedigh is best known for his strong leadership during the post-revolutionary tensions in Iranian Kurdistan in 1979 between the Islamic regime and the Kurdish people. Having experienced political, ethnic and cultural discrimination under the Shah’s regime, the Kurds now demanded these rights from the new government.

Days after the 1979 revolution, Kak Sedigh ordered the people of Sananadaj directly from the local television and radio stations to take over the city’s military base before the new government’s arrival. And so the city was now in the hands of the Kurdish people and guerrillas (peshmerga). This worried the leaders in Tehran who sent a delegate consisting of members of the Council of the Islamic Revolution, including Rafsenjani, Taleghani and Banisadr, to Sanandaj to solve the problem and bring those responsible to justice. Thus, a meeting was organised where the delegates, not aware of Kak Sedigh’s presence at this meeting, demanded to know who “this” Sedigh Kamangar was and why he acted as the people’s advocate. Suddenly Kak Sedigh shouted out “I am Sedigh Kamangar. Who are you? And what’s your place in this revolution?” The government’s representatives, who had come to bring Kak Sedigh and the other leaders to justice, were forced to negotiate with the Kurds and accept their demands on organising their own councils. However, this was never implemented by the central government and Kurdish revolt was dealt with harshly after Khomeini’s order of a holy war against the Kurds. Nevertheless the Kurdish people managed to keep their autonomy until the spring of 1980 when a huge military campaign was organized against them. Komalah and other Iranian opposition groups were forced to retreat to the Iraqi Kurdistan where Kak Sedigh and his comrades continued their resistance.

Assassination

Kak Sedigh was assassinated at Komalah’s headquarters on the night of 4 September 1989 by his own bodyguard Tofiq Gerjhali, a traitor sent from the Islamic Government. Gerjhali managed to flee on the night of the assassination.

Kak Sedigh had earlier lost two brothers, Raof Kamangar in 1979 and Maroof Kamangar in 1983, in this struggle against the Islamic regime.