SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Three members of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) on Thursday rejected video confessions from five journalists and activists which the three say released earlier by a channel affiliated with a political party.
Earlier on Thursday, video confessions of five journalists and activists who were sentenced to jail in Erbil last month were released, showing the men purportedly confessing links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“Social media of a party’s channel released a report video under the name of the Kurdistan Region Security Council. In the video report, the confessions of several people were shown and they were accused of espionage,” the three members said in a statement.
“While the Kurdistan Region Security Council is part of the Kurdistan Region Presidency, it has its official channel and includes five members. But, we, three members of the council, are not aware of the report and confessions which are released under the name of the security council,” they added.
The three members include head of the Kurdistan Region’s security service, director of the agency of protection and information-information and director of Peshmerga intelligence, according to the statement.
“We reject any statement which we are not aware of and we are not certain about its truth and validity. We reaffirm that today’s statement doesn’t represent the official view of the Kurdistan Region’s Security Council,’ the said.
On February 16, Erbil criminal court-2 sentenced journalists Sherwan Sherwani, Guhdar Zebrai and Ayaz Karam as well as activists Shvan Omer and Hariwan Issa to six years each in jail on national security charges.
The Kurdish security forces arrested the five in Duhok province in October over allegedly undermining national security in the region.
The footage released earlier said the five journalists and activists had “direct links” to the PKK and that they had spied on the security services and judges in the Region.
“During the process of interrogations, it has been proved through evidence and confessions that they had had direct links to the PKK and several other parties,” the footage said.
