ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A close source to the People’s Front leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi said Thursday that they had not received a “formal notification” regarding an arrest warrant for the party leader, amid circulating reports suggesting that a warrant had been issued for Jangi.

“There are forces around Sarchnar and other parts of the city [Sulaimani] but there has been no formal notification to him about an arrest warrant,” a close aide to Jangi told The New Region. “We have received nothing formally.”

Reports emerged on Thursday evening that an arrest warrant had been issued for the former Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) co-chair, with outlets affiliated with Jangi accusing PUK leader Bafel Talabani of wanting to “use the court to create a scenario, similar to the previous ones, to incriminate Lahur Sheikh Jangi,” without providing further clarification.

Jangi formed the People’s Front party in early 2024, after a dispute led to him parting ways with the PUK. The People’s Front secured two seats in the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections in October out of a total of 100 seats available.

The reports around Jangi’s arrest come less than two weeks after New Generation Movement (NGM) leader Shaswar Abdulwahid was apprehended at his residence in Sulaimani on August 12. His party initially accused PUK-affiliated forces of the arrest, but Sulaimani’s Police later confirmed that the NGM leader was arrested by their forces.

The NGM leader's detention was in relation to a 2019 lawsuit by a former MP of his party, who accused Abdulwahid of threatening to publish explicit images of them.