'He's not guilty': son calls for release of Duhok teacher detained in protests

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The son of a Duhok teacher detained over Saturday’s protests has called for the release of his father, accused of planning demonstrations calling for government employees to be paid after months of delay.

Badal Barwari has been working as teacher in the public sector for 27 years. He has been arrested four times in the past three years for allegedly encouraging popular protests.

Ari Barwari has appealed for the release of his father, who was arrested on Friday on suspicion of planning Saturday’s teacher protests at Azadi park – which saw several arrests and security forces injured.

 “I want the government to release my father as soon as possible. He is not guilty and has not committed any crimes. All he did was ask for the salary of not only himself but of all teachers,” he told Rudaw.

Many government employees in the Kurdistan Region have not been paid for several months, prompting protests in Duhok over the past three days. 

A crowd of protesters, said to include teachers, activists and journalists, gathered at Duhok’s Azadi Park at 3pm on Saturday.

According to Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) MP Jihad Doski, two police officers were injured in the protests. Four people remain in police custody.

Human rights activists in the city have condemned the “violent” handling of protesters by security forces. 

“We completely condemn the acts of the security forces in Duhok province against the protesters. They [security forces] have treated the teachers in a non-human and violent way,” said Hamdi Barwari, head of the Kurdistan Human Rights’ Office in Duhok. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government's parliamentary speaker Dr Rewaz Fayaq has called on political authorities to listen to the protesters' demands. 

"The Kurds are angry with all of us. Their protests do not know borders, be they in Duhok or Erbil, Sulaimani or Halabja, they are bearers of a common grief...let them freely express themselves. It is the duty of political authorities to listen to them and respond positively," she tweeted on Sunday. 

Doski accused other political parties of orchestrating the protests.  

“Unfortunately, we believe that there were some political parties behind the conflict, including the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU). They have encouraged people to gather and destroy the situation,” he told Rudaw on Saturday night. 

Ismail Sigari, a Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) MP rejected the claims, adding that protesters are simply demanding “their basic rights.”

“These people are asking for their basic rights, they are not asking for anything else. They are not asking to topple the system of governance, or change the government … they are just saying that our pockets are empty, give me my salary,” Ismail Sigari told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen on Saturday night.

“They have not been paid their salaries for four months and they are not asking to demonstrate, they just wanted to come together, read a statement and then they would go away. Why did they[authorities] not give them permission to gather together?” he added.

The Kurdistan Teachers Union say that they support the teachers’ demands but were not informed of the planned demonstrations.

Additional reporting by Hunar Rashid