UN Report Shines Light on ‘Deeply Worrying’ Pattern of Restrictions in Kurdistan

OCHA/Charlotte Cans. People pray in Erbil, the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
OCHA/Charlotte Cans. People pray in Erbil, the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
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UN Report Shines Light on ‘Deeply Worrying’ Pattern of Restrictions in Kurdistan

OCHA/Charlotte Cans. People pray in Erbil, the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
OCHA/Charlotte Cans. People pray in Erbil, the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Freedom of expression in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been increasingly curtailed over the past year, according to a UN report issued Wednesday.

The report documents a concerning pattern, observed from March 2020 to April 2021.

“The pattern of repression documented in this report is deeply worrying," it read.

The report came a week after an appeals court upheld six-year jail sentences for five journalists and activists.

It said 33 journalists, activists, or human rights defenders had been arrested without being told why, denied access to lawyers or held without their families being informed.

Journalists Ayaz Karam, Kohidar Zebari, and Sherwan Sherwani, along with activists Shivan Saed and Harwian Issa, faced multiple charges including "inciting protests and destabilizing" Kurdistan, as well as "spying", and "misuse of electronic devices".

"These men were sentenced because of a biased political will," charged Belkis Wille, senior researcher at HRW.

Sherwani is known for his investigations into corruption and has criticized Kurdish premier Masrour Barzani on Facebook. On October 7, he was arrested for no legal justification and without a judiciary order.

“They had contacted the American consulate and German consulate and took money from them,” reads the appeal court’s ruling, which was made public last week.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Foreign Office has strongly refuted the court’s allegations.



Tunisia Hands Lengthy Prison Terms to Top Politicians and Former Security Officials

Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)
Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)
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Tunisia Hands Lengthy Prison Terms to Top Politicians and Former Security Officials

Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)
Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)

A Tunisian court on Tuesday handed jail terms of 12 to 35 years on high-profile politicians, including opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi and former security officials, a move that critics say underscores the president's use of the judiciary to cement “authoritarian rule”.

Among those sentenced on charges of conspiring against the state in the major mass trial, were Nadia Akacha, the former chief of staff to President Kais Saied, local radio Mosaique FM said. Akacha who fled abroad received 35 years.

Ghannouchi, 84, veteran head of the Islamist-leaning Ennahda party, was handed a 14-year term.

Ghannouchi who was the speaker of the elected parliament dissolved by Saied, has been in prison since 2023, receiving three sentences of a total of 27 years in separate cases in recent months.

A total of 21 were charged in the case, with 10 already in custody and 11 having fled the country.

The court sentenced former intelligence chief Kamel Guizani to 35 years, former Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem to 35 years, and Mouadh Ghannouchi, son of Rached Ghannouchi, to 35 years. All three have fled the country.

Saied dissolved the parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree, then dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges, a move that opposition called a coup which undermined the nascent democracy that sparked in 2011 the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings.

Saied rejects the accusations and says his steps are legal and aim to end years of chaos and corruption hidden within the political elite.

Most opposition leaders, some journalists, and critics of Saied have been imprisoned since he seized control of most powers in 2021.

This year, a court handed jail terms of 5 to 66 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers on charges of conspiring as well, a case the opposition says is fabricated in an attempt to stamp out opposition to the president.