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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Duhok journalist who was arrested on charges related to unauthorized protesting during anti-government protests over a year ago was released on Tuesday, his lawyer told Rudaw.
Journalist Omed Baroshki was released after serving his time in prison, lawyer Bashdar Hassan told Rudaw. However, on Tuesday evening Baroshki was transferred to a local Asayish office where he was detained for a while longer. Later that night, his lawyer told Rudaw English that he was finally able to go home.
Baroshki was among dozens of journalists and activists arrested in Duhok in the summer of 2020 after anti-government protests over unpaid wages. He was handed a sentence of one year in October, while already facing two additional charges.
A Kurdish MP, who had filed a case amounting to a six-month prison sentence against Broshki, dropped the charges and he was released, Hassan said.
Baroshki was arrested along with teacher and activist Badal Barwari, who was released in October after serving a controversial sentence. Baroshki was convicted in June of last year, and sentenced to a year in prison on a charge of “misusing a communication device.”
The pair was first put on trial with five others who were convicted last February for “endangering the national security of the Kurdistan Region.”
The trials of two other groups of defendants arrested around the same time are also making their way through the courts.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has come under fire for the prosecution of the Duhok detainees. European diplomats in June said they were concerned that “basic fair trial standards have not been respected” during the prosecution of Barwari and Baroshki’s five co-defendants.
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.
Updated at 10:05 pm
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