ERBIL — Prominent Kurdish leader and former president of Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, has welcomed the release of Abdulrahman Apo, a leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDP-S), from the prison of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syrian Kurdistan.

“I am pleased to hear about the release of Abdulrahman Apo, a leader of the KDP-S. Such a freedom fighter could be in the jail of enemies, not imprisoned by a Kurdish party,” Barzani said in a statement.

The Kurdish leader hoped that it could be the beginning of the release of all political prisoners from PYD’s prisons.

“I also hope that Rojava of Kurdistan [Syrian Kurdistan] would hereafter experience freedom of political activism, and that no individual is arrested for their political views,” the statement concludes.

Apo was imprisoned by the PYD for nearly 18 months. He was released on 14th November.