The emerging pattern is that, when an Iranian authority is releasing a Southern Azerbaijani activist, they summon the victim to a trial just before a significant protest season, as a punishment to the victim and as a deterrent to the other. It may be that Mr. Ekberzade enjoys his liberty but he is gagged and his human rights are infringed. So our Communication for safeguarding his

Kirkuk’s history dates back thousands of years.[6] The Ottoman Empire incorporated Kirkuk—and much of what is now Iraq—into its domains in 1534. Kirkuk grew in importance in the eighteenth century when it became the capital of the Ottoman sanjak (county or sub-district) of Şehrizor, comprising the areas of Kirkuk, Arbil, and Sulaimaniya. With the reforms of Midhat Pasha, Baghdad’s governor between 1869 and 1872, the name Şehrizor was given to the sanjak of Kirkuk (corresponding to the present areas of Kirkuk and Arbil). In 1879, the Ottoman government in Istanbul created the Mosul vilayet, which incorporated most of what is now northern Iraq. Kirkuk remained