Ghassemlou was the Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) from 1973 until his assassination in 1989 by individuals suspected of being agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

[2][3] Born in Urmia, West Azerbaijan, Iran to a wealthy feudal family, his father, Mohammad Vesugh Ghassemlou (b.

[4][5] Ghassemlou was fluent in 8 languages; Kurdish, Syriac-Aramaic, Persian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, French, English, Czech, and Russian.

Khomeini demanded all armed groups to become part of one revolutionary organization and requested that Kurdish soldiers "return" their weapons.

Shortly, after the beginning of the armed Kurdish rebellion, Ayatollah Khomeini declared a "holy war" against the PDKI and Kurdistan.

After the defeat of the armed rebellion, Ghassemlou settled in Paris and joined the National Council of Resistance of Iran that was founded by the PDKI and other opposition forces such as People's Mujahedin, the liberal-leftist National Democratic Front, the United Left of small socialist groupings, and the independent Islamist-leftist former president of Iran Abolhassan Bani Sadr in October 1981.

The Tehran delegation was as before, namely Mohammed Jafar Sahraroudi and Hadji Moustafawi, except that this time there was also a third member: Amir Mansur Bozorgian who was a bodyguard.

The Kurds also had a three-man delegation: Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, his aide Abdullah Ghaderi Azar (a member of the PDKI Central Committee) and Fadhil Rassoul, an Iraqi Kurdish university professor who had acted as a mediator.

[17] His deputy, Sadegh Sharafkandi, succeeded Ghassemlou as secretary-general until his assassination on 17 September 1992 in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin, Germany.

Abdullah Ghaderi Azar and Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou were buried on 20 July in Paris at Père Lachaise Cemetery.