On 1 February 2006, YJA Star commander Viyan Soran set her body on fire to protest the isolation imposed on Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan and the inhumane practices in Imrali.

The guerrilla commander, who was also known as Viyan Caf and whose civil name was Leyla Wali Hussein, was born in Sulaymaniyah in southern Kurdistan in 1981. She joined the Kurdish movement there at the age of 16, as the daughter of a patriotic family that had participated in the popular uprisings against Iraq's Baathist regime. Despite her young age, Viyan Soran relatively quickly assumed responsibility in the highest leadership bodies of the liberation movement. In addition to the women's guerrilla force YJA-Star, she was also a member of the People's Defense Forces (HPG) and served in the party council of the PAJK as well as the reconstruction committee of the PKK.

The PKK statement said: “Viyan Soran was guided by Abdullah Öcalan's thoughts that the liberation of women had to be made the starting point of the struggle for freedom and that the revolution in Kurdistan was a women's revolution. She led a multifaceted and active struggle against the patriarchal structures deeply rooted in large parts of southern Kurdish society and the mentality characterized by feudal living and property relations, according to which women formed the lowest social unit. Viyan Soran is the pioneer of the women's revolution of South Kurdistan. She created a personality that continues to play a fundamental role today in overcoming the male-dominated mentality and politics in the Middle East and creating a free life and society. We will always remember her with love, respect and gratitude."