"By their own admission, they have formed unlawful associations with foreigners and strangers in order to implement their criminal goals. They contacted the American and the German consulate and received money from them," a paragraph from the verdcit by the penal panel of Kurdistan region's court of Cassation states.
The court ruling issued on April 28th and delivered to the proxies of the 5 detainess of Badinan, 2 frreelance journalists and three civil society activists, on Thursday May 6th, have sparekd wide protests locally and internationally.
Three judges out of five voted for Erbil Criminal Court ruling of February 16th for sentencing the two freelance journalists (Sherwan Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari) and the three civil-society activists (Ayaz Karam, Hariwan Essa and Shivan Sa'id), jusdge Latif Sheih Mistafa, aformer member of Iraqi parliament and Gorran Movement, said on his Facebook account.
"By their own admission, they have formed unlawful associations with foreigners and strangers in order to implement their criminal goals. They contacted the American and the German consulate and received money from them,"
Local and international organizations expressed their grave concern that that press freedom is increasingly under threat in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
"The defendants also confessed that they had met with the German consul in a hotel," a paragraph of the cassation court verdict states.
"The Court’s reference today is absurd & goes against the spirit of our close & friendly relations between Germany and the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the german Consulate in Erbil tweeted on Thursday.
"We call upon the iraqi Kurdistan Region's President to invoke his power to grant amnesty. Free exchanges with journalists & activists are part & parcel of diplomats’ daily work, also of the German COnsulate in Erbil," it added.
In response to the court's reference to the consulate of the Unted States in Erbil, the spokespoerson of the consulate said, "We expect host governments all around the world to respect the work of U.S. diplomats, who much like journalists, meet with a variety of people in order to do their jobs. We extend this same courtesy to foreign diplomats working in the US, including to representatives of the KRG."
"The defendants also confessed that they had met with the German consul in a hotel," a paragraph of the cassation court verdict states.
Brought before a court in the regional capital, Erbil, on February 15, the five detainees of Badinan and tens in prison are victims of a wave of arrests carried out by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) eight months ago in response to a series of major protests against delay in salaries of state employees, KRG handling of the economic crisis resulting from disputes over oil production, export and corruption, and reached its peak under the Covid-19 pandemic.
“With the Erbil Court of Cassation’s decision to uphold the 6-year jail sentences of journalists Sherwan Amin Sherwani & Guhdar Zebari, the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government has shown that its purported commitment to press freedom is nothing but empty words,” said Ignacio Miguel Delgado, MENA representative of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ, in a statement on May 6th.
Below is the full the verdict in English:
Kurdistan Region/ Iraq
Council of the Judiciary
Kurdistan Region Court of Cassation
The Penal Panel Council of the judiciary
Number/ 498/ The penal panel- 2/2021 Dated/ 28/4/2021
The Penal Panel 2 of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Court of Cassation was formed on 28/04/2021, chaired by the vice president the judge Mr. Abdullah Ali Ahmad Sharfani, and the membership of judges Messrs. Shiwan Muhiddin Ali, Kamal Abdullah Rafiq, Mohammad Mustafa Mahmud and Muslih Gailani Omar, authorized to judge in the name of the people, and hence made the following decision;
The Appellants:
Public Prosecution member: Nasik Taha Ismail, legal representative of Security Council of the Kurdistan Region
The convicted:
Sherwan Amin Naao Sleman,
Shivan Sa'ied Omar
Ayaz Karam Rashid
Hariwan Essa Mohammad
Kudar (Guhdar) Hamad-Amin Abdul-Majid
Their proxies, the lawyers
Mohammad Abdullah Othman,
Bashdar Hassan Ismail,
Kamaran Taha Mohammad,
Harem Rafat Abdullah,
Refenk Yaseen Nabi,
Ramadhan Ali Arteesi
The Presidency of the Erbil Criminal Court 2 has issued its decision dated 16/2/2021, in the criminal case numbered (47/pp2/2021), convicting all the defendants (Sherwan Amin Naao Sleman, Shivan Sa'ied Omar, Ayaz Karam Rashid, Hariwan Essa Mohammad, Kudar Hamad-Amin Abdul-Majid) in accordance with Article 1 of Law No. 21 of 2003 issued by the Kurdistan Region Parliament and in terms of the articles (47, 48 and 49) of the Penal Code. Accordingly, the court sentenced each one to a provisional substantial sentence of 6 years in prison taking to account the detention period for the defendant Sherwan Amin Naao Sleman from 17/10/2020 to 15/2/2021 and the detention period for the other defendants Shivan Saied Omar, Ayaz Karam Rashid, Hariwan Essa Mohammad, Kudar Hamad-Amin Abdul-Majid from 22/10/2020 to 15/2/2021. The court has decided to place all the defendants under police surveillance for a period of five years following the duration of their sentence, according to the provisions of Article 109 of the Penal Code.
Their mobile phones, camera and laptops are to be confiscated and seized according to the seizure report on 22/10/2020 and to be sent to the ministry of finance to act according to article 308 of the amended procedures of criminal trials.
The court has opened a new case against the defendant Kudar Hamad-Amin Abdul-Majid according to article (21) of the Weapons Act and sent the confiscated weapon and parcel to an investigation court in order to open a separate file against the defendant Kudar Hamad-Amin Abdul-Majid according to article 240 of the penal code.
Besides, the court has also sent the confiscated vehicle according to confiscation report on 22/10/2020 for further investigation. The Kurdistan Region Security Council is entitled to ask for their civil rights in front of civil courts once the decision gains the final stage and sending the dossier to the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region Court of Cassation for review as the decision is appealable. Due to the dissatisfaction of the above appellants for the mentioned decision, they decided to lodge an appeal at this court through their lawyers as they filed their appeal statements dated 25/2/2021, 26/2/2021 and 25/2/2021. They asked to revoke the original court ruling for the reasons given in their statement. The Presidency of the Erbil Criminal Court 2 has sent the dossier to this court through the Presidency of Public Prosecution, the auditing panel checked and reviewed the case according to review number 310 on the 4/4/2021 as the court was asked to revoke the decision and send the case back for retrial following the change for its legal descriptions of the crime and consider it as criminal agreement and convict them on that bases for the reasons mentioned in the petition. Upon its receipt, it was recorded and placed under review and deliberation;
The Verdict
Upon the examination and deliberation, the court found that the appeals were submitted within their legal period, the court has decided to accept the appeal request formally and because they all related to one subject, they also decided to unify it and consider it all together. In addition, the lawsuit and the decision issued in it are subject to appeal automatically and upon consideration of the verdict's conviction of the defendants, (Sherwan Amin Naao Sileman, Shivan Saied Omar, Ayaz Karam Rashid, Hariwan Essa Mohammad, Kudar Hamad-Amin Abdul-Majid) according to article No. 1 of Law No. 21 of 2003 and in terms of the reference for articles (47, 48 and 49) of the Penal Code found that the decision is correct and legal because it is proven in the evidence obtained in the lawsuit against the aforementioned defendants that they confessed in front of the investigation judge and they said that they had organized a group headed by Sherwan Amin Naao Sileman with other suspects, however, their case papers have been separated from this case as they are absconders. Their intention behind organizing this group was to target sensitive areas and establishments in the Kurdistan Region including the destabilization of security and stability in the region, and sabotage operations against the region's institutions, the political and military officials, and the administrative and judicial administration institutions in the region.
By their own admission, they have formed unlawful associations with foreigners and strangers in order to implement their criminal goals. They contacted the American consulate and the German consulate and received money from them. They have also contacted the PKK group, including Abo Shaabo Almusama and Sha'ban Hassan Ramadan, and obtained photos and information about the officials of the region and sent them to the enemy parties and provided them with information about prisons and headquarters in the Kurdistan Region.
They stated in their confessions that they had received financial aid from an American organization, the amount of about five thousand dollars; also they have provided the International Lawyers Organization with photographs of the Peshmerga movements in the Shiladze region and information about the oil wells in the region. They have also confessed of having committed these criminal acts incited by people abroad and in the region. The defendants also confessed that they had met with the German consul in a hotel and sent them to the area of Dura twice ordered by the group leader, the defendant (Sherwan Amin Naao Sileman).
It is certain that the photos and the information found in the laptop device belonging to the defendant (Sherwan Amin) were photos of the administrative, security and military officials in the Kurdistan Region. The lawyers of the defendants have acknowledged this and confirmed it in their defence list that the suspect (Shahaban Hassan Ramadhan), known as (Abu Shaabo), has sent them these photos through the communication devices in order to trap them.
From the above and from the evidence given by the secret informant, the documents, proofs and records of related audio recordings circulated among all the defendants, and on social media platforms of Facebook, Messenger, according to videos, and the current recordings of of the defendant (Sherwan Amin Naao), the information, photos and contacts with the organisation named February 17th (17 Shubat ) based in Sweden, the confessions of the defendants during the investigation stage came with their complete freedom, will and perception, without any pressure, coercion or temptation.
The defendants has not proven physical abuse or torture as they have not obtained any medical reports shows bruises on their bodies and have not filed any complaints against those who abused them. Consequently, it has not been proven that the statements were extracted from them by force or threat.
The denial of the confessions defendants in front of the court were useless because their confessions in front of the investigating judge were done in a time closer to the period of the incident, and the incident is attributed to the close period.
Accordingly, the evidence obtained in this case, as mentioned above, is linked and reinforced with each other therefore it is sufficient and convincing to incriminate the aforementioned defendants in accordance with Article 1 of Law No. 21 of 2003 issued by the Kurdistan Regional Parliament and in terms of the articles of reference (47, 48 and 49) of the Penal Code.
In addition, the sentence against each of the defendants with imprisonment for a period of (six years) were appropriate and balanced compared to the gravity of the crime and its seriousness and the circumstances of the criminals, therefore, accordingly this court decided to dismiss the appeals and ratify the appealed ruling in terms of the crime and its punishment in all its articles entirely, and return the lawsuit dossier to its court. The verdict of this court has been issued by the majority according to the provisions of Article 259/A-1 of the Criminal Procedure Act on 28/4/2021.
Signed by
The President
Abdullah Ali Ahmad Sharfani
