Kurdistan
The office of the presidency of the public prosecutor in Erbil. File photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Female protestor Berivan Ayoub Hassan was released on Tuesday after serving almost two years in prison, her lawyer told reporters following the court session.
Ayoub was arrested in October 2020 after participating in a demonstration in April of that year as she protested against corruption and unpaid wages in Duhok.
Her release was scheduled for April, but was delayed as “her ID card was missing” slowing down her releasing process, lawyer on the case Bashdar Hassan said.
Ayoub was accused of being a part of a group that aimed to attack Turkish companies and diplomats, and of being a leader of a political party in the Kurdistan Region, according to the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT), a violence-reduction and human rights organization.
She was held without charges for over 16 months and was sentenced to two years in prison in March.
The demonstrations in Duhok saw the arrest of around 300 other protestors, with a few being released lately.
Masoud Shingali and Sherwan Sherwani were released earlier in April. The United States welcomed their release.
A presidential decree issued in late February reduced the sentence of a group of five Duhok detainees by 60 percent.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), at the time, came under fire for the prosecution of the Duhok detainees. Erbil has defended the trials, stating that the courts are independent and has requested assistance from the UN and foreign missions to strengthen the legal system and train judges.
"The Kurdistan Regional Government is fully committed to the rule of law, to a fair and impartial legal process, and to the freedom of the media," read a statement from KRG coordinator for international advocacy, Dindar Zebari in May.
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