ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The trial of jailed Kurdish opposition leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi is scheduled to take place at 10 am Thursday in Sulaimani, a source from his legal defense team told The New Region on Wednesday, coming after he was arrested last year following a dramatic shootout at the city's Lalezar Hotel.

The New Region learned last week that the trial of Jangi, head of the opposition People’s Front, had been postponed to May 14.

The opposition leader went on a hunger strike in late April after his case was delayed again following months of repeated postponement.

Jangi accused Bafel Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani of exerting “pressure” on courts and institutions to prevent his case from being forwarded to the Court of Cassation.

Dana Taqiaddin, spokesperson for Jangi’s legal defense team, told The New Region that the court session will be held at 10 am Thursday and that the opposition leader, his brother Polad Talabani, and 10 other youths from the Lalezar case will be present.

“Tomorrow we await the court’s decision, and our position will be based on that,” he added.

Jangi was the co-chair of the PUK, the ruling party in Sulaimani province, before quitting the party to establish the People’s Front.

He was arrested in an August operation by PUK-affiliated forces for allegedly attempting to assassinate Bafel Talabani.

The altercation in Jangi's residence in Sulaimani's Lalezar Hotel saw the opposition leader resist the arrest for several hours, with his Scorpion force clashing against the PUK-affiliated forces in a bloody firefight.

According to Jangi’s sister, 39 of the Scorpion fighters remain in prison.

The Lalezar battle killed more than a dozen on Jangi’s side and saw the arrest of multiple others. At least three PUK-affiliated fighters also died in the immediate aftermath of the operation and at least 19 more were wounded, before ultimately leading to the arrest of the People’s Front leader and his brother Polat Sheikh Jangi.