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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Wednesday released a report highlighting human rights concerns over a number of trials in the Kurdistan Region, while noting "concrete steps" that have been taken in recent months by the Kurdish authorities "toward the protection of the right to freedom of expression."
The report was based on observation of trial hearings in the four cases and private detention interviews with individuals concerned in the cases, along with interviews with “judges, defense lawyers, prosecutors, detention authorities and other relevant interlocutors, such as civil society activists and families of detainees.”
“The initiation of these proceedings, as well as the similarities in the concerns observed across all four trials, may be indicative of targeted criminal prosecutions intended to stifle criticism of the public authorities,” the report read, adding that the concerns send a “strong dissuasive message” on the authorities’ response to public criticism.
However the UN bodies also welcomed the long-standing partnership with the region claiming it has taken "concrete steps toward the protection of the right to freedom of expression in recent months."
"OHCHR/UNAMI notes the repeated expressed commitment by the Kurdistan Regional Government to the rule of law, judicial independence and human rights, as stated by the President and Prime Minister of the KRI, and acknowledges progress made in 2021, including enhanced cooperation and coordination," the report read.
Annexed in the report was a response from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) claiming that “under no circumstances, civilians in the Kurdistan Region have been arrested or detained arbitrarily.”
The response added that there is a clear split between the judiciary and the government, and that the KRG respects the independence of the judiciary.
The Wednesday report comes more than a month after an Erbil court handed jail sentences to four Duhok detainees who were among dozens arrested during anti-government protests last year.
The four were among dozens of people arrested during anti-government protests over unpaid wages in Duhok last year. Their first court hearing in July was attended by a United Nations representative and diplomats.
Multiple cases have worked their way through the courts in connection with the Duhok protests. The first group to be put on trial - Sherwan Sherwani, Shvan Saeed, Ayaz Karam, Hariwan Issa, and Guhdar Zebari - were found guilty of endangering national security and sentenced to six years in jail. Several others were released earlier this year on time served.
The KRG has come under fire for the prosecutions. European diplomats in June said they were concerned that “basic fair trial standards have not been respected” during the prosecution of another group of Duhok detainees.
Crackdown on protests did not stop in Duhok as last month security forces arrested 603 protestors between November 21 and 26, in Sulaimani province alone, according to the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).
“This includes students, teachers, government employees, activists, and normal people, however most have been released and no student remains in detention right now,” CPT’s Kamaran Osman told Rudaw English at the time.
In June, Amnesty International published a public statement on what they called the “ongoing crackdown of protests by way of arbitrary arrests and harassment” in the Kurdistan Region.
The statement concluded that, “the KRG authorities have an obligation to uphold basic human rights of freedom of expression, assembly and press freedom,” and called on authorities in the Kurdistan Region to “put an end to their ongoing crackdown of protests by way of arbitrary arrests and harassment.”
In an earlier report in May, the OHCHR documented “numerous examples of the use of a range of means to target, harass, threaten and intimidate those exercising their legitimate right to criticize the actions of public authorities, including through the selective application of laws and the denial of fair trial rights and procedural guarantees.”
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