The trial has been adjourned to October 21 because Erbil’s appellate court “has not allocated substitute judges to replace two judges who were transferred” earlier, said lawyer Harem Rafaat.
Amer Khalid Agid, Frsat Ahmad, Jamal Khalil, Suleiman Kamal, and Suleiman Mousa were among dozens of people arrested during anti-government protests in Duhok last year. Their trial began in July on charges that include “plotting chaos.” A second hearing in September was postponed because of changes to members of the court.
The Kurdistan Region has come under fire for the prosecution of activists and journalists arrested in Duhok. A hearing in the trial of four others was postponed on Monday for a second time. Teacher and activist Badal Barwari and journalist Omed Baroshki are scheduled to return to court for the continuation of their trial on October 12.
The first group to be put on trial - Sherwan Sherwani, Shvan Saeed, Ayaz Karam, Hariwan Issa, and Guhdar Zebari - were found guilty of endangering national security. The United Nations mission in Iraq and diplomats issued a joint statement in June after their appeal was rejected, saying the decision “regrettably confirms the urgent need for judicial and institutional reform in the KRI [Kurdistan Region of Iraq] to prevent such miscarriages of justice in the future.”
The Kurdistan Regional Government has defended the trials, stating that the courts are independent. It has requested assistance from the UN and foreign missions to strengthen the legal system and train judges.
Family members and advocacy organizations are concerned about the health of the detainees who have been in jail for more than a year. Last month, 81 of the detainees went on hunger strike, according to the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a civil advocacy organization.
CPT’s Christopher Lee previously told Rudaw English they are worried about the men’s health. “We are very concerned about their condition as we have known about Badal and Omed before. They have lost weight since we last saw them,” he said.
