SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Court of Appeals in Erbil once again upheld convictions of five journalists and activists who were sentenced to years in prison, after the case was sent back to the court for revision.
Esta Media Network reporter Ayub Ali said the appeal court had approved the convictions against the five journalists and activists again.
Journalists Sherwan Sherwani, Guhdar Zebari and Ayaz Karam as well as activists Shvan Omer and Hariwan Issa were sentenced to six years each in jail in February on national security charges.
Lawyers of the journalists and activists presented their appeals to the court of appellate following the trial, but the court denied in its decision, which was made on April 28 but made public on May 6, the appeal of the journalists and activists.
On June 3, the case was sent back to the appeal court again after their lawyers presented another appeal to the court.
People including lawyers and judges criticized the ruling, saying it was a “political decision” to punish the journalists and activists, who called for protests in Duhok province.
The Kurdish security forces arrested the five in Duhok province in October 2020 over allegedly undermining national security in the region.
Prime Minister Masrour Barzani accused some of the detainees of being spies and planning to assassinate and blow up diplomatic missions in the Region.
“Those who were detained are not journalists and activists. Some of them were spies of countries and some others attempted to explode buildings and places of foreigners in the Region,” Barzani said, referring to diplomatic missions in the Region.
The court’s ruling also alleged that that the defendants “contacted the U.S. and German consulates and received money,” without giving further details.
It also alleged that “the defendants confessed that they had met with the German consul in one of the hotels in Erbil and they sent him [the consul] to Dora area twice, directed by the head of the group defendant Shirwan Amina Na’oo.”
U.S. and European consulates in Erbil as well as EU delegation to Iraq expressed shock over the ruling which allegedly linking the diplomatic missions to the case.
