AN Iranian Kurdish man who set himself on fire outside the United Nations refugee agency’s offices in Erbil last week died in the early hours of this morning.

Behzad Mahmoudi suffered 90 per cent burns after he self-immolated in protest at the treatment of Iranian Kurds living in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and the failure of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help him.

His action was filmed by journalists, who have been accused of encouraging it and criticised for failing to intervene to stop him.

Mr Mahmoudi said that he had asked the UNHCR for help numerous times,but his requests had been ignored.

His last words from his hospital bed were: “They [UNHCR] have to help me. We have no work, no money and our only hope is the UN and the UN doesn’t answer us. It is our right.”

More than 10,000 Kurds have fled Iran, where they are persecuted by the regime. But they are denied residency by the Kurdistan Regional Government, effectively leaving them stateless.

This means that they cannot gain employment or secure housing and many of those affected say that the UNHCR does little to help them.

The UN agency said it was “saddened” by Mr Mahmoudi’s death.