Free Sherwan Sherwani Video Transcript and Descriptions

English Transcript:

Sherwan Sherwani is an independent journalist who has worked for many years to expose government corruption in Iraqi Kurdistan.

On October 7 2020, Sherwan was abducted by an armed group who confiscated his belongings and held a gun to his head in front of his family before arresting him.

For 19 days, Sherwan’s family did not know where he was located after he was abducted and arrested.

At this moment, Sherwan is being held in solitary confinement for publicly criticizing government officials on social media.

CPT Iraqi Kurdistan has recently launched the United for Liberation Prisoner Defense Campaign urging the Kurdistan Regional Government to release Sherwan Sherwani.

We invite you to support the campaign and sign the petition calling for his freedom at cptaction.org.

Learn more about Sherwan’s case and take action.

Let’s see Sherwan Sherwani free and 
reunited with his family. 


English Video Descriptions:

First slide: A photograph of Sherwan Sherwani with black, curly hair in front of the same photograph with blue overlay. In the photograph, Sherwan is sitting down on a chair and folding his hands on top of a table that has bottled water on it. Sherwan is wearing a grey button-up shirt. The text “Sherwan Sherwani” appears in the photograph and then disappears.

Second slide: A photograph of Sherwan and his wife with two of their kids are sitting in the yard of their house while Sherwan is speaking to CPT. A team member is sitting to the right of Sherwan and taking notes.

Third slide: Rugash Izzaddin Mahi-al-Din, her husband Sherwan Sherwani, and their four children standing on a wooden deck by water and green trees. Rugash is wearing a white hijab and a traditional, red Kurdish dress. Sherwan is wearing a grey polo shirt and jeans. One of their children is wearing a black polka-dot dress. The remaining three children are wearing shorts, one of them wearing a white polo, another child wearing a pink shirt, and another child wearing a white tank top.

Fourth slide: A photograph of Sherwan Sherwani and a red graphic that has white text that says, “Free Sherwan Sherwani” and CPT’s logo in white which has a white dove resting on barbed wire and the word “CPT” below. Sherwan Sherwani is folding his hands on top of a table that has bottled water and nuts on it. Sherwan is wearing a grey button-up shirt.

Fifth slide: A photograph of Sherwan Sherwani surrounded by four security forces dressed in blue shirts, two of the security forces are wearing dark blue vests, three of them are wearing dark blue baseball caps. Sherwan is wearing a black shirt and watch and holding one of his hands lifted in the air, one of the security personnel is trying to put Sherwan’s arm down.


Sixth slide: A graphic with prison bars with a dove resting atop the prison bars. The background is red. The prison bars are white with red lines outlining it. The dove is white. There is a circular lock on the prison bars. Below the dove are the words “christian peacemaker teams.” Below the prison bars is a white rectangle with red text that says, #FreeThemAll and هەموویان ئازادبکەن#.

Seventh slide: Three members of CPT Iraqi Kurdistan wearing red vests and standing in a park. Above all of them are some trees with green leaves. Two are wearing surgical white masks. There are eight media microphones in front of them. Activists are also standing next to the CPTers.

Eighth slide: A person in Iraqi Kurdistan with long black hair and wearing a black jacket. Behind the person is a white wall with grey tiles and a bookshelf with books, which is diagonal. The person is holding a piece of paper that says, “#FreeThemAll, #FreeBadinanPrisoners, #FreeSherwanSherwani, From Iraqi Kurdistan” 

Ninth slide: A person in Palestine wearing a blue and white sweater, red glasses, and has short black hair. The person is holding a piece of paper that says that says, “#FreeThemAll, #FreeBadinanPrisoners, #FreeSherwanSherwani, #Palestine.” The person is in front of a white wall.

Tenth slide: A person in Colombia wearing a purple, yellow, blue tie-dye shirt, light brown glasses, and has a ponytail. The person is holding a piece of paper that says that says, “#FreeThemAll, #FreeBadinanPrisoners, #FreeSherwanSherwani, From Colombia.” The person is in front of a turquoise wall.

Eleventh slide: A person in Turtle Island wearing a blue dress shirt, dark grey glasses and has a white beard and short black and grey hair. The person is in front of a green wall and holding two pieces of paper taped together that says, “#FreeThemAll, #FreeBadinanPrisoners, #FreeSherwanSherwani, From Turtle Island [Seattle]”

Twelfth slide: A person from Australia with long dark brown hair and wearing a blue shirt with a grey striped dress shirt on top. Behind the person is a white wall with paintings. The person is holding a piece of paper that says that says, “#FreeThemAll, #FreeBadinanPrisoners, #FreeSherwanSherwani, From Australia”

Thirteenth slide: A person in Colombia wearing a black, blue, and white checkered short-sleeve shirt, and has long black hair and painted nails that are dark blue and white. The person is holding a piece of paper that says, “#FreeThemAll, #FreeBadinanPrisoners, #FreeSherwanSherwani, From Colombia.” The person is in front of a yellow wall.

Fourteenth slide: Participants in a demonstration form a line together holding two big banners of prisoners’ pictures on them for Sherwan Sherwani, Badal Barwary, and Omed Barushky. Demonstrators also held individual picture pamphlets of them. The courthouse building is behind the people.

Fifteenth slide: A black and white photograph of Sherwan Sherwani folding his hands on top of a table that has bottled water and nuts on it. Sherwan is wearing a grey button-up shirt. Above his head is red text that says, #FreeSherwanSherwani. On the bottom right of the graphic is CPT’s logo with CPT in red text and a white dove resting on barbed wire with a white leaf by the barbed wire.

Sixteenth slide: A pinkish red graphic with two lines of black barbed wire with white text that says, “United for Liberation Prisoner Defense Campaign.” Below is black text that says, “www.cptaction.org"

Seventeenth slide: A white background with the CPT logo appears with a white dove on barbed wire and a leaf. The letters “CPT” is in red text, below that is black text that says, “CPT Iraqi Kurdistan - cptik.org"