5 more New Generation members face Sulaimani court-issued arrest warrants

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The New Generation continues to face intense scrutiny as a Sulaimani court announced on Thursday that warrants have been issued for five more New Generation members, charged with threatening to blackmail and insult party peers.

 

The court defended the legality of the house raids that took place in Sulaimani on Monday night, amid widespread criticism of the security forces aligned with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) that conducted them. The raids and arrests have been perceived to be part of a wider crackdown on political opposition in the Kurdistan Region. 

Five had already been arrested in Monday night's house raids, bringing the total number of arrest warrants out for New Generation members up to 10.

The arrests come as the party is faced with a deepening schism after several of its MPs in both the Erbil and Baghdad parliaments said the leadership was betraying its founding ideals late last month, accusing party founder Shaswar Abdulwahid of turning what was founded as a political movement into a family business, undermining its collective decision-making process, and then trying to blackmail dissenters into silence.

The New Generation has accused the PUK of making the arrests due to political motivations.

"What the PUK Asayesh [Security] is doing is not legally but politically motivated," Kawa Abdulqadir, a New Generation MP in the Kurdistan Parliament said in a statement on Tuesday. "This is the third time that the PUK Asayesh has raided the main headquarters of the New Generation without a court order or notification, insulting tens of members of New Generation, torturing them and then arresting them," he added.

Abdulqadir attributed the arrest of his fellow party members to a "political agenda" being carried out by the PUK to undermine the New Generation by "spreading intimidation" and committing "partisan" acts against their members. 

Rudaw reached out to the PUK for comment, but they were not immediately available.

However, Judge Omer Ahmed, spokesman of the Sulaimani court, rejected New Generation's accusations on Thursday.

"Whenever Asayesh forces have raided New Generation's headquarters, they have done so by court order and carrying judge-issued arrest warrants," Ahmed told Rudaw.

He added "Until now, of the 10 people arrest warrants were issued for, five have been arrested."

Ahmed explained that an arrest warrant has not been issued for party leader Abdulwahid.

Related: Security forces arrest 5 in New Generation house raids