SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A court in Duhok on Sunday sentenced two members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to jail over links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Esta Media Network reporter said.
Duhok court sentenced Mala Nazir, member of the PUK office in Darkare, to seven years in prison on charges of having links to the PKK, the reporter said.
The security forces detained Nazir seven months ago, his daughter Berivan Nazir said.
“My father was accused of trading and spying for the PKK,” his daughter told Esta Media Network.
The court also sentenced Nimat Gunes, member of the HDP representative office in South Kurdistan, to seven years in prison on the same charges.
Hikmat Hatib, HDP representative in the Kurdistan Region, said Gunes was also detained by the security forces in Zakho seven months ago.
“He was accused of trading with the PKK, but he is a HDP member and had no links to the PKK,” he told Esta Media Network.
The HDP representative stressed that there was no evidence that Gunes had spied for the PKK.
The PUK and HDP members were sentenced to jail in accordance with Article 1 of law No. 21 of 2003, according to the reporter.
The law which has no name is the amendment of article 156 of the Iraqi Penal Code.
The amended article says, “Anybody who is deliberately or unintentionally involved in an act that undermines security, stability and sovereignty of the institutions in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and causes that damage will be given life sentence or temporary imprisonment”.
