Sentences spark outrage across the Kurdish region where press freedom has been in precipitous decline for some time.<\/p>\n
By Sofia Barbarani and Hakeem Dawd Qaradaghi<\/p>\n
Baghdad, Iraq \u2013 Iraqi Kurdish journalists Sherwan Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari were sentenced to six years in jail in a move that has been labelled \u201cunfair and disproportionate\u201d by press freedom group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).<\/p>\n
The men were arrested in the Kurdish region of Iraq in October last year following their coverage of anti-government protests in Duhok, a province controlled by the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, they were found guilty by an Erbil criminal court of jeopardising Kurdish national security, citing social media exchanges in which the journalists critiqued the government. The evidence, Sherwani\u2019s lawyer told CPJ, was \u201cinsufficient and baseless\u201d.<\/p>\n
The sentences sparked outrage across the Kurdish region, where press freedom has been in precipitous decline for some time. Most Kurdish political parties, including the leading Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Gorran Movement, condemned the verdict.<\/p>\n
In 2020 at least 385 violations were committed against 291 journalists and media outlets, according to the Kurdish press freedom group Metro Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this verdict, the Kurdish authorities are sending a clear message: the press freedom that they claim to defend and to uphold and to respect is not being respected,\u201d Ignacio Miguel Delgado, the CPJ Middle East and North Africa representative, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cIraqi Kurdistan keeps claiming that it\u2019s the only democracy [in the region] and it takes pride in that,\u201d said Delgado. \u201cBut what we have witnessed throughout 2020 and into this new year is the exact opposite, at least as far as press freedom goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
When protests broke out in the Kurdish region in August last year, security forces were accused of beating and detaining journalists covering the social unrest. Two months later, Sherwani and Zebari were arrested.<\/p>\n
\u2018They did not tell us where they were taking him\u2019<\/p>\n
Sherwani\u2019s wife, 37-year-old Rugesh Jabbari, was alerted to the presence of strangers inside her home by her screaming son.<\/p>\n
Dozens of uniformed and plain-clothes men burst through the family\u2019s front door on October 7 last year, demanding to see the journalist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey handcuffed him in front of my children and put their guns on his head,\u201d Jabbari told Al Jazeera. \u201cThey seized Sherwan\u2019s smartphone, laptops, notebooks, our CCTV.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jabbari and her children watched helplessly as the men escorted Sherwani into a vehicle and drove him away. \u201cThey did not tell us why and where they were taking him. We did not know his whereabouts for 19 days,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Since then, Jabbari has been granted access to her husband on one occasion, for a total of five minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me that he was locked up in confinement for 68 days \u2026 he was in very poor conditions \u2013 weak, thin and tired. I could clearly notice he had been tortured,\u201d said Jabbari.<\/p>\n
Murky process<\/strong><\/p>\n Media watchdog Kurdistan Watch said the defendants \u2013 including Sherwani, Zebari and three activists \u2013 have been subjected to overcrowded prison cells, torture and other forms of intimidation, in addition to being denied regular access to lawyers.<\/p>\n The whole process, said Mahmood Yaseen of Kurdistan Watch, has been a murky one. \u201cWe believe the trial was untransparent and unfair,\u201d Yaseen told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Kurdish member of parliament Gulistan Saeed, who attended the two-day trial, said the families of the jailed were prevented from being there, despite it being an open trial. \u201cIt [happened] under huge military presence,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n In a statement issued on Thursday, the Kurdish government\u2019s Office of the Coordinator for International Advocacy said Sherwan and Zebari \u201cwere found guilty of gathering classified information and passing it covertly to foreign actors in exchange for substantial sums of money. This information directly put at risk the lives of senior Kurdish and foreign officials in Kurdistan\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] is fully committed to the rule of law, to fair and impartial legal process, and to the freedom of the media,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n But the recent convictions, said Belkis Wille of Human Rights Watch, \u201cfurther compound the Kurdistan region\u2019s standing as a place in which journalists can be prosecuted merely for reporting on and critiquing government policies they object to\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEven more concerning in this case has been the inappropriate intervention by the Kurdistan Regional Government\u2019s prime minister,\u201d said Wille in reference to Prime Minister Masrour Barzani\u2019s unsubstantiated claim that the arrested journalists were spies.<\/p>\n \u201cHis comments expose political intervention in free speech even at the highest levels,\u201d Wille told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Opposition figures in the Kurdish region say they fear the sentence, based on social media exchanges, will pave the way to further crackdowns on freedom of speech.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are all aware that this cabinet has used violent repression against all sorts of freedom of expression,\u201d said Kurdish member of parliament Shirin Amin, whose husband, journalist Kawa Garmyani, was murdered in 2013 following his investigation into corruption.<\/p>\n \u201cI myself cannot exchange messages that contain information against the government. I fear they spy on me and intimidating consequences will follow,\u201d Amin told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n The defendants\u2019 lawyers are expected to appeal the sentences, while 31 members of parliament addressed an open letter to the Kurdish region\u2019s Court of Appeal asking for the sentences to be reviewed, according to local media.<\/p>\n \u201cThe convictions aren\u2019t final yet, Kurdistan Region\u2019s cassation court has to certify the ruling but it can also overturn it\u2026 It will depend on how much pressure the KRG will face to release them,\u201d said Mahmood Yaseen of Kurdistan Watch.<\/p>\n The US embassy said in a statement it was closely following the case.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US has consistently engaged on the issue of freedom expression, including for members of the press, with KRG officials and will continue to do so,\u201d it said. \u201cDemocratic societies respect freedom of expression and support the ability of press members to report without fear of retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n Prime Minister Barzani later tweeted: \u201cI strongly urge everyone to respect the judiciary system in the Kurdistan Region and to let it do its job independently and without interference.\u201d<\/p>\n