SULAIMANI (ESTA) — 52 journalists and activists have gone on a hunger strike in Erbil’s prison, according to a letter released by the prisoners on Sunday.
In a letter directed by the prisoners to the three branches of the Kurdistan Region presidency, and the United Nations, international organizations, said, “As the prisoners of Badinan along with dozens of sentenced journalists as well as activists inside Erbil’s prison”, “We decided to go on hunger strike”.
It also pointed out the reason for the strike saying that the legal conditional-release right was being manipulated by the general prosecutor, “There were attempts by a political party to intervene, and strip us from that right”, according to the letter.
“We demand all of the prisoners in the Kurdistan Region, under the slogan [Death or Freedom], start hunger strike in order to decide about their cases, as saying there is interventions on courts affairs,” it said.
A wide range of local and international human rights organizations, watchdogs including activists and lawyers, have deeply expressed their concern about the Kurdistan Region government dealing with freedom of the press and its crackdown by the authorities in the Region.
In February 2021, Erbil criminal court sentenced journalists Sherwan Sherwani, Guhdar Zebari, and Ayaz Karam as well as activists Shvan Omer and Hariwan Issa to six years in prison on national security charges. They have been accused of espionage and undermining national security.
