The Trials of Masoud, Sherwan, Karger and Bandawar
by Rebekah Dowling
Clockwise from top left: Masoud Ali, Karger Abas, Sherwan Taha, Bandawar Ayoub.
“I don’t know why I was arrested,” Masoud Ali told the judge. He stood in a cage in the courtroom in Erbil having already spent almost 14 months in prison and suffered 4 postponed court dates. The three men with him, Bandawar Ayoub, Sherwan Taha and Karger Abas, gave similar responses when asked, they had never been sentenced before and didn’t know why they were arrested. “We were not a part of KDP and that is why they arrested us,” guessed Masoud.
The judge had written confessions, given to him by the security council who assured the court the men had written them. But each time the judge read them out beginning with, “I am a criminal…” The accused denied these were their words.
“You don’t have any evidence that I ever even participated in a demonstration,” Karger said.
“How could I make a plan to shoot at the KDP headquarters when my own father works there?” Sherwan asked.
“I never even heard of Future Movement before it was mentioned in this courtroom,” Sherwan said.
But the prosecution persisted.
According to the security council, Future Movement was a military group the prisoners had started to overthrow the government and assassinate the Duhok Governor and one of the sons of the Prime minister. They were also accused of making plans to bring the Tishreen protests from Baghdad up to Kurdistan with the help of the USA consulate.
According to Masoud, Sherwan, Karger and Bandawar, Future Movement was either made up or might have been written on the edge of a logo they found on the internet and shared in their WhatsApp group which they had been in because of their connection through the Coalition for Democracy and Justice.
“For 20 years I served as a teacher and I never even hit a student. How could I have a military group? I wouldn’t even have time for it,” Masoud countered.
“I have seven Martyrs in my family. How could I make a plan to destroy the government they died for?” Bandawar asked.
The list of accusations was confusing and unclear at times. “Did you share information with Maki Amdei?” Masoud was asked. “No, I don’t have facebook, but I have heard of him,” Masoud relpied. And that was all on that line of questioning.
The USA, German and French consulates were dragged into it because, according to the security counsel, the prisoners had written a joint statement against the Turkish cross-border bombings in which they accused the KRG of being complicit in the attacks and asked these countries to condemn tha attacks.
It wasn’t clear if this supposed statement was the reason they were being charged with espionage. But when the prosecutor asked in her final statement for Sherwan’s charges to be dropped and prison sentences given to the other three under Article 156 of the Iraqi Penal Code, the lawyers for the defence objected. They told the court that being charged under Article 156 didn’t fit the crimes the prisoners were being accused of. They explained, “That law is for espionage, and you haven’t mentioned any evidence for that. Everyone knows who is really conducting espionage in Kurdistan.”
Lawyer for the defence, Bashdar Hassan, speaking with media after the trial on the 20th October.
They then proceeded to point out all the concerns with the way the case was run. You referred to secret witnesses but you never brought them and we never got a chance to cross examine them. Your only other witnesses were 5 prisoners who all said they had nothing to witness. There were no lawyers present for any of the investigation process. All the prisoners have denied the written confessions the security council claims are theirs. According to the law, the security council should not be in here for the trial, helping the prosecution.
The judges didn’t answer these claims and decided to postpone their decision to November 8. One of the judges had decided they did not want to be part of the decision and retired from the case. The other judges also wanted time to check the authenticity of an alleged voice recording of Sherwan Taha and the handwriting of a letter allegedly written by Masoud Ali. The lawyers for the defence said these verifications weren’t necessary as the letter and recording weren’t incriminating. But the security council who had brought them thought it was a good idea.
Outside the court the families were unsure what this might mean but hopeful that the release of Badal Barwari the previous day might mean they too would be reunited with their loved ones within the next few weeks.