Journalists Sherwan Sherwani, Guhdar Zebari, and Ayaz Karam and activists Shvan Saeed Omar and Hariwan Issa (NRT Digital Media)
2021-06-29
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SULAIMANI — Christian Peacemaker Teams-Iraqi Kurdistan (CPT-IK) on Monday (June 28) condemned the decision of the Kurdistan Region’s Court of Appeals the previous day to uphold the controversial convictions of five journalists and activists from Duhok and deny their final appeal.
CPT-IK said in a statement that the court’s decision confirmed concerns shared by many international and local observers that the prosecution was politically motivated.
“Political rule in Iraqi Kurdistan stands above the rule of law,” it said, adding that it was gravely concerned about the power that the Region’s ruling parties wield over judicial affairs, which they use to punish journalists and civil activists for exercising freedom of expression.
The organization argued that the court had “failed in its role to uphold justice” for the defendants.
On Sunday, the court upheld six year prisons sentences handed down against journalists Sherwan Sherwani, Guhdar Zebari, and Ayaz Karam and activists Shvan Saeed Omar and Hariwan Issa during a nine-hour trial in February in which they were accused of seeking to undermine the security and stability of the state. An initial appeal was denied in May.
All five defendants strongly deny the charges against them, alleging that statements later used against them by the court were obtained through coercion and threats against their families or simply fabricated by secret and unnamed witnesses cited by the Kurdistan Region's Security Council.
The prosecution is widely viewed as politically motivated, with the defendants’ arrests coming in the context of an extended crackdown on journalists and activists by the security forces in Duhok and Erbil governorates, which are affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Additionally, Jasana Organization for Freedom of Media and Expression said in a statement on Tuesday that the authorities in the Kurdistan Region are increasing their tyrannical actions against journalists and activists in defiance of the principles of freedom and human rights.
Jasana said that authorities’ unjust and oppressive convictions of individuals arrested in Duhok and Erbil last year have heightened doubts about the Region’s claims to be a democracy.
It added that the arrests and prosecutions had political aims and were another effort to suffocate freedom.
(NRT Digital Media)