KRI: Suspects of woman activist's murder captured

Perpetrators of the assassination of a Kurdish women's rights activist were captured in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on Tuesday, Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) reported, citing a written statement by the police department of Sulaimani city.

Nagihan Akarsel, a Turkish citizen, journalist and a member of the Jineoloji Research Academy, was assassinated in a neighborhood of Sulaimani on Tuesday around 10 AM local time. A witness told Rudaw that they heard gunshots outside, and later saw her lying in front of the house.

Sulaimani police department informed that the perpetrators were captured in the district of Koye in Erbil Governorate a few hours after the incident, and that the interrogation of the suspects continue.

The identitites of the suspects have not been disclosed by the police.

MA said that the suspects were trying to flee to KRI's capital Erbil (Hewler), and they were captured at the last check point controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

PUK is the second largest political party in KRI, after the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and is the dominant power in the region surrounding Sulaimani, whereas Erbil is controlled by the forces affiliated with the KDP.

Dozens arrested in Turkey during protests over the assassination

30 women demonstrators were arrested on Tuesday evening in Istanbul, Turkey, as the police targeted a gathering held in protest over the assassination of Nagihan Akarsel.

The Turkish police also threw insults at the women reporters working at the scene, MA said.

The demonstrators in Istanbul's Kadikoy district also chanted slogans in support of the protests in Iran over the alleged murder of Mahsa Amini by the Iranian police and against oppression of women.