{"id":3463,"date":"2021-06-17T11:53:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T07:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/?p=3463"},"modified":"2021-06-17T11:53:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T07:23:47","slug":"arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/","title":{"rendered":"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Repub of report issued by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2021\/06\/kurdistan-region-of-iraq-arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists\/\"> Amnesty International<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wysiwyg\">\n<p>Over the past year the authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) have<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/documents\/mde14\/4233\/2021\/en\/\"> ruthlessly cracked down on journalists, activists and protesters exercising their right to freedom of expression, including by arbitrarily arresting and forcibly disappearing them<\/a>, Amnesty International said today. The crackdown which first began in March 2020, intensified after widespread protests in August 2020 demanding an end to corruption and better public services.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cAuthorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have launched a chilling crackdown in their efforts to silence critics over the past year. They have rounded up activists and journalists and prosecuting them on trumped-up charges in unfair trials and harassing or intimidating family members who were kept in the dark about the status of their loved ones,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote-light\"><p><strong><em>&#8220;The Kurdistan Region of Iraq authorities must end the crackdown and immediately release all of those who have been arbitrarily detained. The authorities must also refrain from using vague and ill-defined laws to curtail the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"quote__text\" data-utm-term=\"QXV0aG9yaX\">Authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have launched a chilling crackdown in their efforts to silence critics over the past year.<\/div>\n<footer class=\"quote__source\" data-scenario=\"quote_author\">Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International<\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The organization investigated\u00a0 the cases of 14 people from Badinan, in Duhok governorate, who were arbitrarily arrested between March and October 2020 by <strong>Asayish<\/strong> (KRG security and intelligence) and <strong>Parastin forces<\/strong> (Kurdistan Democratic Party intelligence) in connection with their participation in protests, criticism of local authorities or for their journalistic work. All of them were held incommunicado for up to five months and at least six were forcibly disappeared for periods of up to three months. Eight of them claimed they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated during detention. On 16 February 2021, five of them were sentenced to six years in prison based on<strong> \u201cconfessions\u201d<\/strong> extracted under duress.<\/p>\n<p>Amnesty International spoke to former detainees, lawyers, human rights workers and journalists, and reviewed court documents. The organization documented the use of three laws that have been used to arrest and prosecute these activists, namely Law no.21 on matters of national security, a defamation law and law on the misuse of electronics, all of which contain vague and overly broad definitions of crimes that are not recognized under international law.<\/p>\n<p>In the governorate of Duhok alone Kurdish security forces arrested <strong>more than 100 people<\/strong> between March 2020 and April 2021. Most were later released but at least 30 remain in detention, including the five activists and journalists already sentenced.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cPeaceful freedom of expression and journalism are not crimes. Many of those detained were tried on fabricated charges and some of those who have been released have fled the region, amidst a growing atmosphere of fear that has even seen family members of activists, journalists and protesters threatened and harassed,<\/strong><\/em>\u201d said Lynn Maalouf.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Repub of report issued by Amnesty International. Over the past year the authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) have ruthlessly cracked down on journalists, activists and protesters exercising their right to freedom of expression, including by arbitrarily arresting and forcibly disappearing them, Amnesty International said today. The crackdown which first began in March &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.7.1 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI - Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Repub of report issued by Amnesty International. Over the past year the authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) have ruthlessly cracked down on journalists, activists and protesters exercising their right to freedom of expression, including by arbitrarily arresting and forcibly disappearing them, Amnesty International said today. The crackdown which first began in March &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-17T07:23:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-17T07:23:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":484,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI - Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-17T07:23:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/article\\\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ikhrw.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI - Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI","og_description":"Repub of report issued by Amnesty International. Over the past year the authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) have ruthlessly cracked down on journalists, activists and protesters exercising their right to freedom of expression, including by arbitrarily arresting and forcibly disappearing them, Amnesty International said today. The crackdown which first began in March &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/","og_site_name":"Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch","article_published_time":"2021-06-17T07:23:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":650,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI","datePublished":"2021-06-17T07:23:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/"},"wordCount":484,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg","articleSection":["Article"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/","name":"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI - Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-17T07:23:47+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/rozhnamanus-4.jpg","width":650,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/article\/arbitrary-arrests-and-enforced-disappearance-of-activists-and-journalists-in-kri\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of activists and journalists in KRI"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/","name":"Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikhrw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}