Iraqi Kurdistan upholds prison sentences for five

Arbil, Iraq - An appeals court in Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday upheld six-year jail sentences for five journalists and activists, after a trial criticised by rights groups.

Authorities in the autonomous region said the five men ‘had direct relations with a number of foreign entities and the PKK’, a Kurdish governmental source said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has led a decades-long insurgency in neighbouring Turkey.

Defence lawyer Aso Hashem said ‘three of the five judges of the cassation court upheld the sentence’ passed February 16 by a court in Arbil, capital of the region in northern Iraq. Former judge and lawmaker Latif Moustafa, who left the Kurdish judicial system over its politicisation, confirmed the ruling.

Journalists Ayaz Karam, Kohidar Zebari and Sherwan Sherwani, along with activists Shivan Saed and Harwian Issa, faced multiple charges including ‘inciting protests and destabilising’ Kurdistan, as well as ‘spying’, ‘armed’ struggle and ‘misuse of electronic devices’. The five men covered or took part in anti-government protests held last year in several Kurdish cities and towns over a major fiscal crisis that caused delayed public sector salaries and pay cuts.

“The nature of these individuals’ work had no relationship to journalism or activism but was instead part of a larger plot and sabotage agenda,” the source said.

The five men covered or took part in anti-government protests held last year in several Kurdish cities and towns over a major fiscal crisis that caused delayed public sector salaries and pay cuts