ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – This week, trials will begin in Erbil for at least seven individuals detained last year in Duhok province on charges of endangering national security, two family members told Rudaw English.
Amid anti-government protests over unpaid wages last summer, Kurdish security forces known as Asayish detained around two dozen individuals in Duhok province, including a teacher whose family says committed no offense. Authorities accused the group of plotting to endanger the safety of foreign missions in the Kurdistan Region at the behest of foreign powers.
“The lawyers have been informed that the trial will be held at the 2nd branch of the Criminal Court in Erbil on Monday,” Hamdi Barwari, brother of teacher Badal Barwari, told Rudaw English by telephone from Duhok on Saturday. “The charge is threatening national security.”
Barwari said that his brother Badal, who was detained on August 18, will be tried along with one other person, and five others will be prosecuted separately.
Rudaw English reached out to the spokesperson of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for comment, but had not received a reply at time of publication.
The KRG has come under criticism for the detention of the individuals in Duhok. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani was asked about the detainees in a press conference on Wednesday, but he rejected the assertion these individuals were activists or journalists and maintained that his government is open to criticism.
“First of all, I have a lot of respect for journalists and the profession and I support the freedom of expression. In no way are we preventing criticism of the government,” Barzani said. “Those who were detained … are neither activists nor journalists. Some of them were spies, they spied for other countries… Some were saboteurs.”
Barzani said the detained individuals tried to blow up foreign missions, and carry out assassinations and abductions. “I want to reassure you that those detained were neither activists nor journalists. They were only wearing the clothes of journalists, but they were busy doing other things underneath.”
Badal Barwari’s brother said the prime minister should not interfere in the judicial process and should wait for a court of law to rule on the matter. “It is unfortunate that the head of the government makes such a statement, while we reject the accusations, we will have to wait for the court to decide if Badal Barwari and others are guilty or not,” he told Rudaw English.
The Kurdistan Region has faced a number of serious challenges in recent years including the perennial disagreement with Baghdad over oil and budget, the war with the Islamic State (ISIS) group, and a deepening economic crisis mostly brought on by a drop in oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. Government coffers are depleted, making it difficult to pay the salaries of its bloated civil service. In 2020, the KRG paid its employees for just eight months, according to official figures. It has also slashed wages in a bid to save money.
Since 2014, teachers and other civil servants have staged protests demanding full and on time payment of their salaries. In December, thousands of people went into the streets in Sulaimani province, demanding their pay cheques. At least nine protesters were killed and two security force members died.
In Duhok province, at least 20 known individuals were detained between August and October last year, reportedly for planning unauthorized demonstrations. Badal Barwari had already been detained separately in May “without a warrant,” charged with “the misuse of electronic devices” for his role in organizing peaceful protests, according to Amnesty International, who used his full name Badal Abdulbaqi Aba Bakr Barwari. He was later released, but re-arrested in August.
A teacher for 27 years, Barwari was an outspoken critic of government policies cutting or delaying payment of salaries, for which he was detained four times in recent years, his brother said. He formed an unofficial group on Facebook to pressure authorities to pay teachers’ salaries in full and organize strikes to raise awareness about the plight of civil servants.
Relatives of other detainees said they were not able to see their loved ones for several months. “My father was able to see my brother for five minutes on January 6th with the presence of an officer at Erbil Asayish [station],” Mehvan Saeed Omar, brother of detainee Shvan Saeed Omar, told Rudaw English via telephone on Saturday. “My brother is not a spy. He supported reconciliation and often spoke about creating consensus amongst Kurdish groups.”
Shvan was a member of the Coalition for Democracy and Justice, a political party founded by Iraqi President Barham Salih in 2017, according to his brother. Omar has not received official notice of whether Shvan will appear in court on Monday.
“He has done nothing wrong except for appearing on a live TV show on Facebook before his arrest, where he was critical of the situation regarding the salary issue, but in a soft way,” Omar said.
Shvan was detained on October 22. His brother claimed that nine balaclava-wearing officers seized his mobile phone and his children’s iPad.
Four days later, on October 26, the Kurdistan Region Security Council released a statement saying it had thwarted a number of attacks. “The Kurdistan Region Asayish forces foiled a number of sabotaging attacks in recent days … and detained a number of people who are connected to terrorist groups.”
The statement mentioned two separate investigations and 27 arrests. In one, the accused were plotting to attack a foreign consulate in Erbil and the other was a plan to assassinate a governor in the Kurdistan Region.
Twelve suspects allegedly connected with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were detained and the security council said they were part of a broad network with people based across the world, including in Europe. “They were behind a plan to attack a consulate in Erbil and assassinate the diplomats inside the consulate, as well as attacking the private companies of that particular country,” the statement details.
The statement said that the unnamed foreign country that was the target has been informed about the plot that the security council described as an indication of a constant threat to the KRG.
A second group of eight Iraqis were also detained after a year of surveillance. They are accused of plotting to assassinate a governor in the Kurdistan Region and planning to carry out a number of attacks, particularly in Duhok.
A third group of seven Iraqis were detained by police and are accused of being part of a network formed in recent years to spy on KRG institutions.
Hamdi Barwari claimed they are all being charged under section 1 of law 21 (2003), which is an amendment to the Iraqi penal code that makes violation of the country’s independence, unity, or security punishable by death. The Kurdish amendment removes the death penalty and makes the crime punishable with jail time, up to life imprisonment.
A couple of weeks before the Kurdistan Region Security Council’s announcement of the arrests, security forces accused the PKK of being involved in the killing of the head of security at a border crossing in Duhok. In 2019, a Turkish diplomat was shot dead in an Erbil café. At least two people were arrested in connection with the killing and Kurdish authorities privately blamed the PKK.
International and local human rights organizations have criticized the KRG’s security forces and their conduct in dealing with protesters.
Relatives of those detained claimed their loved ones were arrested without a warrant issued by a judge, an allegation rejected by authorities in Duhok.
“We need to distinguish between a political activist, non-political activist, and those who are not activists,” Duhok Governor Ali Tatar told Rudaw in December. “No one in Duhok has been arrested without a judicial warrant or outside the rule of law.”
