Kurdistan Regional Government Uses Court to Restrain Freedom of Expression

Christian Peacemaker Teams – Iraqi Kurdistan condemns the Erbil appeal court’s ruling to uphold the six-year prison terms for Badinan journalists and activists

[ Image description: On a dark red background, five black and white photos show Sherwan, Shivan, Eyaz, Hariwan and Guhdar. White text says: "The Court of Cassation denies justice to journalists nad activists from Badinan by upholding their six-year prison terms." Two photos show the appeal court's decision in Kurdish language. ]

On May 6, the Court of Cassation in Erbil ruled to support the unjust sentencing of three independent journalists and two civil rights activists from Badinan in Iraqi Kurdistan on fabricated criminal charges of "espionage and conspiracy to endanger national security." Sherwan Sherwani, Guhdar Zebari, Eyaz Karam, Shivan Saeed, and Hariwan Essa were sentenced to six years in prison for speaking to consulates about the state of human rights in Iraqi Kurdistan, criticizing corruption in political parties, and participating in nonviolent protests.

"It is a tragic day in the history of the Kurdistan judiciary," said Bashdar Hassan, defense lawyer of the Badinan journalists and activists. "This decision is a political one. People won't be able to believe in the courts anymore." 

Three of the five judges of the Court of Cassation in Erbil are members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which controls the Badinan region in Iraqi Kurdistan. In their decisions, both the Criminal Court and the Court of Cassation mirrored the KDP leader and Iraqi Prime Minister Masrour Barzani's public condemnation of the Badinan prisoners before the trial: "They were neither journalists nor civil rights activists... they were spies of foreign governments and saboteurs." This ruling confirms that the Badinan journalists and activists were sentenced not according to the rule of law but according to a political decision of the KDP to punish those who criticize corruption, suppress journalists, and quash civil society initiatives. 

The Court of Cassation's decision comes as a shock to the family members of the Badinan prisoners and as well as to the Iraqi Kurdistan's independent journalists and civil society. If courts cannot protect the rights of civil society activists from the power and reprisals of the political parties, then who can? 

The ruling of the Court of Cassation is final, and only in rare cases, the verdict can be overturned by the Committee of the Correction of Appeal Decisions. The defense lawyers will still attempt to appeal the ruling. However, based on what has already happened, the Badinan prisoners' probability of receiving an overturned and just ruling is minimal. 

The rule of law has failed in the case of the Badinan journalists and activists. We as Christian Peacemaker Teams – Iraqi Kurdistan, alongside the families of the Badinan prisoners and members of civil society, call on the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, to uphold his commitment to protect the freedom of expression and invoke his authority to grant amnesty for Sherwan Sherwani, Shivan Saeed, Guhdar Zebari, Hariwan Essa, and Eyaz Karam.