Two arrested for burning Iraqi flag in Kirkuk: National security

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s national security service on Thursday announced the arrest of two individuals in Kirkuk for burning the Iraqi flag in a video that caused outrage among Iraqi social media users.

“National security in Kirkuk arrested two people who appeared in a video clip of burning the Iraqi flag,” read the statement from the National Security published on Facebook.

Videos on social media purportedly show individuals speaking in Kurdish while desecrating the Iraqi flag, with users claiming they are from the Kurdish-populated Shorja neighborhood. Rudaw was unable to verify the videos, neither has it seen the videos showing the burning of the flag. 

Iraq’s national security said the incident “violates societal peace”, and that they will continue searching for the others who appeared in the video, while the two arrested will be referred to judicial proceedings.

“Those who disrespected the Iraqi flag in Shorja were not Kurds from Shorja,” Arshad Salihi, a prominent nationalist parliamentarian of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in a statement on Thursday, claiming that those responsible for the reported incident were outsiders from different countries. 

Article 202 of the Iraqi penal code states that anyone who publicly insults the Iraqi flag "is punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or by detention."

The reported flag desecration incident comes in the backdrop of increased tension and as series of demonstrations by both Arab and Kurdish residents.

Dozens of protesters, mainly members of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia and their supporters staged a sit-in last week, blocking the highway, protesting the reported decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to return the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to its former offices. 

Kurdish residents of Kirkuk on Saturday afternoon amassed in protest against the blockade on the highway. They expressed support for a KDP return to the city and accused Arabs of silencing them. The protesters lit fires in several streets and blocked traffic.

Altercations between Arab and Turkmen protesters and enraged Kurdish residents of Kirkuk on Saturday left at least four Kurdish demonstrators killed and 15 others wounded after Iraqi forces fired live ammunition to disperse them.

Kirkuk is a multiethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and Assyrians. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of a brazen offensive by the Islamic State (ISIS) group threatening the city.

Kurds held Kirkuk until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the KRG’s independence referendum. While other Kurdish political parties remain active in Kirkuk, the KDP refused to return, saying the city was “occupied” by Shiite militias.