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Activist Sentenced to 3 Years in Jail for Criticizing PMF in Iraq 

Activist Haidar al-Zeidi. (Haidar al-Zeidi Facebook page)
Activist Haidar al-Zeidi. (Haidar al-Zeidi Facebook page)
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Activist Sentenced to 3 Years in Jail for Criticizing PMF in Iraq 

Activist Haidar al-Zeidi. (Haidar al-Zeidi Facebook page)
Activist Haidar al-Zeidi. (Haidar al-Zeidi Facebook page)

The Iraqi judiciary sentenced on Monday an activist to three years in prison for “insulting state institutions” after criticizing the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). 

In a Facebook post, Haidar al-Zeidi, 24, said he had been previously arrested by the PMF and detained for two weeks before being released on bail. 

He can appeal the ruling. 

Article 226 of the penal code, which dates back to the Baath era and the rule of late President Saddam Hussein, stipulates the imprisonment of no more than seven years of anyone who openly insults the parliament, government, judiciary, armed forces or any other state institutions. 

Penalties may also include detention or fines. 

The article had long been criticized by rights and civil groups that have compared it to dictatorial practices. 

Zeidi’s sentence was widely condemned by activists, who slammed the PMF for carrying out duties that should be limited to the interior ministry and security agencies. 

Head of the Beit Watani (National Home) party, Hussein al-Ghorabi said: “Welcome to dictatorship. Haidar al-Zeidi was sentenced to three years in jail over a tweet criticizing one of the political gods in Iraq. No to the stifling of freedoms.” 

Journalist Hamed al-Sayyed said the sentence is “the worst offense against any martyr.” 

Meanwhile, former MP Mithal al-Alusi revealed that he was sentenced to seven years in prison for insulting the judiciary. 

In a tweet on Sunday shortly after the ruling, he said he would refrain from commenting on the sentence. 

A secular politician, Alusi had returned to Iraq after the 2003 US invasion. He was twice elected to parliament. In 2004, al-Qaeda assassinated his only two sons in front of his Baghdad home. 

He has been a supporter of normalizing relations with Israel and has been living in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. 

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.