PM Barzani Urges All to Respect Kurdistan Judiciary System
"I strongly urge everyone to respect the judiciary system in the Kurdistan Region and let it do its job independently and without interference," PM Barzani wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Barzani's remarks come while some sides, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), have called on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to overturn a court verdict issued for five people whom have been sentenced to imprisonment on charges of espionage and threats to national security.
KRG’s International Advocacy Office says that the five detainees had been proven to have worked under the guise as journalists for other purposes, noting that they worked for no media organizations and were not members of the Kurdistan Journalists’ Union.
The five individuals were tried based on Article 165 of Iraq’s Penal Code 111 from the year 1969, which was approved by the Kurdistan Region Parliament in 2003.
Judicial authorities have evidences proving that the five people had been involved in plans aiming at destabilising the Kurdistan Region, taking and sharing photographs of restricted military locations, and they had also exchanged voice messages in group chats to discuss plans to take up arms against the government.
However, KRG’s International Advocacy Office has made it clear that this is not the final decision, and that the convicted have the right to appeal the decision.
