Update on Turkish and Iranian Bombardments
14 civilian casualties - 8 killed and 6 injured
On January 15th, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC heavily attacked multiple locations in the Erbil governorate with 13 ballistic missiles. During this operation, an Iranian drone targeted the house of Peshraw Dizeiy, killing four civilians and injuring five.
On January 28th, the Turkish Air Force (TAF) bombed the house of a civilian named, Ebdûlqadir Husên Tale, in the village of Gellale in the Mawat district of the Sulaymaniyah governorate. The house was totally demolished. Luckily, there were no people in the house at the time of the bombardment.
On February 20th, a Turkish drone bombed Sire Mountain and struck Kafia village of the Dinarte subdistrict in the Akre region. Two civilians, 61 year old Arif Taha and 68 year old Bashir Omer were killed in the strike. They were harvesting sumac in Sira Mountain with two other villagers when they were killed.
On March 8th, a Turkish fighter jet bombed Hawt Tabaqe Mountain, striking Bariske village in Dinarte sub-district in the region of Akre. Two civilians, Saeed Mubarak Zebari, 41 years old and an active Peshmerga, and Araz Faraj Haji, 29 years old and a medical worker, were killed. Salih Mubarak Zebari was injured in the bombardment. All three are from Diwke village in Dinarte and were in the mountains harvesting wild vegetables. While CPT was visiting with the families impacted, they spoke to CPT about a long history of bombardments on their village. In Kafia village on June 6th, 1996 one civilian was killed by Turkish bombardments. Furthermore, on October 11, 1996 three children were killed and fourteen people were injured when a bombardment struck a house in the village. After that incident, due to the dangerous situation, all 29 families were forced to leave. They haven’t returned since and it is impossible to return due to the threat of Turkish military operations. In that area alone at least 24 villages have been displaced and over 161 overall in Iraqi Kurdistan have been displaced due to Turkish military operations.
Update on the Situation of Journalist and Activists
Journalists and Activists in prison
Sherwan Sherwani Suleman Ahmad
Qaraman Shukry Abbas Ali Rekani
Guhdar Zebari Released from Prison
On 17 February 2024, independent journalist Guhdar Zebari was released after spending a total of 39 months and 26 days in prison. Initially convicted for conducting espionage and breaching the national security of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, he was convicted again after completing his first prison sentence, for altering the logo of his car. Shortly after completing this second sentence, he was convicted of possessing a hunting rifle without the required legal permission, leading to six more months behind bars. CPT observed many violations and concerns during the duration of Guhdar’s judicial process such as a lack of a sufficient evidence, a fair and impartial trial, rights for defense lawyers, and more.
Nazir Barwary - Released
On February 11th, 2024 Nazir Barwary was released in prison after spending 1095 days in prison. Nazir was arrested on 11 February 2021 and charged with conducting acts of espionage and being affiliated with PKK under Iraqi Penal Code Law No. 111 of 1969, article 156 as amended by Law No.21 (2003) of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. On 19 September 2021 he was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Out of the 81 Badinan Prisoners, only Sherwan Sherwani and Qaraman Shukry remain in prison.
Omer Mama Kurda - Released
On March 19th, 2024, Omer Mama Kurda, a political activist affiliated with the New Generation Party, was arrested. The KRG’s Public Prosecution Office filed a complaint after Omer conducted an interview with an Iraqi-Arab media outlet, during which he spoke about the situation of government employees in Iraqi Kurdistan and criticized the KRG government. He was released on bail on April 4th, 2024.
Abbas Ali Rekani
On November 21st Abbas Rekani was arrested by security forces at 10:30 in the evening. Abbas was an activist in Shiladze in the Duhok governorate criticizing the government for corruption and advocating for journalists and activists imprisoned. Abbas was publicly critical of government corruption on his social media which led to this arrest. Family members of Abbas told CPT that one day before the arrest, Abbas received threats from the ruling political parties in Shiladze. In the last Facebook post before his arrest he posted, “It has been 9 hours since we don’t have electricity.” He was arrested just two hours later.
On March 3rd, Abbas was sentenced to six months by the Duhok court via Law No. 21: Article 1 issued in 2003 by the Iraqi Kurdistan government. The law was related to national security, the same law used to sentenced many of the Badinan prisoners. He was accused of having an affiliation with PKK and communication with its guerillas. He is expected to be released on May 24th, 2024.
Teachers’ Demonstrations
On March 25th, there was a government employee demonstration regarding the lack of salaries being paid. Leading the demonstrations were teachers. Forty-three teachers were arrested during and before the demonstrations. Among the 43 teachers, 4 were women. The four female teachers were verbally sexually abused by Slemani security forces while in prison. Additionally, 7 journalists had their media equipment confiscated, and no media coverage was allowed for the arrests. PUK was informed that the teachers were on their way to PUK main headquarters to discuss the recent project to digitize payments to government employees.