The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government KRG said that a number of young Kurdish Kirkukis arrested after the results of October 10th General Elections were subjected to physical torture, demanding compensations.
This demand came from Dindar Zebari, the KRG coordinator for international advocacy, in a statement published on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 regarding the events that followed the announcement of the results of the parliamentary elections in Kirkuk.
The statement stated that local police and security services launched a campaign of raids and arrests of a number of Kurdish young people while they were celebrating the victory of their electoral lists.
"The Iraqi army, local police, National Security and the Emergency Police SWAT arrested civilians in the neighborhoods of Rahimawa, Shorja, Darwaza, Iskan, Azadi, Panja Ali and Kurdistan. The detainees were later handed over to Azadi and Rahimawa police stations. About 80 civilians were arrested, including 50 who were investigated," Zebari added.
On October 11th and 12th, the security forces arrested 65 young Kurdish men in the neighborhoods of Rahimawa and al-Shorja for charges of "undermining security" in the city of Kirkuk.
Those arrests came after these young men celebrated after the announcement of the preliminary results of the early parliamentary elections in Iraq, but they entered into altercations with members of the security forces and were arrested yet few days later were released on bail.
Although the arrested Kirkukis were released on bail the following day, October 13th, attorney Ahang Anwar, who volunteered to defend these arrested, told KirkukNow mid-November their cases in court have not been determined yet while Zebari confirmed “efforts are underway to terminate the cases.”
The detainees were released following rejections by the two leading Kurdish parties Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK, who contacted Iraqi Premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi while a group of Kurdish volunteer lawyers in Kirkuk said “the release was per legal procedures not political demands as PUK and KDP claim.”
Located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed province for 1.7 million Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, Muslims, Christians and Kaka'is. It has long been at the center of disputes between Baghdad and the Erbil.
The Kurds had an upper hand in Kirkuk up to 2017 when Iraqi security forces declared victory over the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ISIS and took over power in the disputed territories including Kirkuk.
Currently, Iraqi army, local and federal police, Brigade 61 of Special Forces along with Shiite paramilitary of Popular Mobilization Forces PMF, are under Kirkuk joint operations’ command, an umbrella for the security forces running the security of Kirkuk province.
Kirkuk, October 13th 2021- A number of Kirkuk residents released following few days of detentions for clashes with security forces. Kirkuk Police Media
The KRG which calls for normalization in Kirkuk and the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil, denounced the arbitrary arrest of Kurdish people without court warrant.
"These young men were arrested were arrested by order of the commander of joint operations command in Kirkuk under martial law not per court order."
"The young men who were arrested by the Iraqi forces were subjected to torture, bruises appeared on their bodies being beaten by sticks, cables and electric sticks, and they were also subjected to psychological torture," according to the statement.
Zebari says the detainees “were stripped of their belongings and motorcycles and their clothes were torn. they suffered psychologically and physically.... Military checkpoints were set up after these events, and the Iraqi forces were seeking to gather information about the journalists who covered up the incident to arrest them.”
The KRG international advocacy coordinator affirmed the detainees were forced to fill out pledges not to participate in any mass gathering or celebration for a period of 6 months.
"The violations have occurred against the residents of Kirkuk as a result of these incidents", and believes that the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government "should jointly investigate the facts, to identify those responsible for the incidents and compensate the residents of Kirkuk who were financially and morally harmed," Zebari stressed.
