On September 4, 1989 (13 Shahrivar 1368), an infiltrated assassin gunned down 43-year-old Kurdish lawyer and political leader Sedigh Kamangar in Iraqi Kurdistan. Specifically, Kamangar was a co-founder of the Komala party and a pivotal figure in the civic defense movement of Sanandaj following the 1979 revolution.
From Human Rights Lawyer to Civic Leader
Born in 1946 in Kamyaran, Kamangar earned his law degree from Tehran University before establishing a legal practice in Sanandaj. Indeed, he dedicated his early legal career to defending landless peasants, political prisoners, and striking workers throughout the 1970s.
During the armed clashes in Sanandaj in March 1979, Kamangar emerged as the spokesman for the Sanandaj Provisional Revolutionary Council. Crucially, he delivered the historic first radio broadcast calling on citizens to organize civic defense while strictly forbidding arbitrary arrests or extrajudicial violence. When government negotiators later demanded to know who issued the broadcast, he famously declared, “I am Sedigh Kamangar!”
Exile, State Repression, and Unpunished Crime
Following state crackdowns, Kamangar relocated to Iraqi Kurdistan, where he directed “Radio Voice of the Revolution of Iran,” writing broadcasts on labor rights, political freedom, and state repression. However, state persecution heavily targeted his family; security forces arrested his three-year-old daughter Souma, holding her in prison for nine months alongside other relatives.
At dawn on September 4, 1989, an agent who had infiltrated the Bahar camp near Ranya shot Kamangar while he was working on a radio program. Although state media attempted to frame the murder as an internal feud, detailed evidence from Komala and the Communist Party of Iran pointed directly to Islamic Republic security intelligence. Ultimately, his assassination was never subjected to an independent judicial investigation, leaving “the fiery voice of Kurdistan” as an enduring symbol of unpunished state terror.
