Spokesperson for the Kurdistan Free Society (Tavgari Azadi) Tara Hussein (File Photo)

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SULAIMANI — Spokesperson for the Kurdistan Free Society (Tavgari Azadi) Tara Hussein was arrested along with 50 others by the security forces in Azadi Park in Sulaimani on Friday (January 11), according to her brother Soran Hussein.

“A number of people had gathered at a platform in Azadi Park in order to screen a film about the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) assassinated female member Sakine Canciz,”

They have not been yet released, he said.

NRT Digital Media Zhala Mohammed said that a large security contingent surrounded the venue in the park where the screening was to take place and prevented it from being shown.

The Asayish (security) forces also broke up a Tavgari Azadi gathering in Chamchamal, which was to have commemorated the memory of Canciz.

A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Women organization told NRT Digital Media that they had planned to hold a seminar at the Chamchamal Public Library and had obtained permission from the district's mayor, but the security forces stopped the meeting.

“Preventing such an activity is a huge embarrassment for the Kurdistan Region, as well as it showed that the support of some political parties for our national movement is just for elections campaigns and seeking the people’s votes,” she said.

A co-founder of the PKK, Canciz was assassinated in Paris on January 9, 2013, along with two other Kurdish women activists.

The Sulaimani Asayish closed down the party’s offices throughout the governorate in November.

(NRT Digital Media)

This story was updated at 5:47 pm EBL.