Kirkuk criminal court on Tuesday sentenced a senior member of one of the leading Kurdish parties for six months in jail suspended for insulting a militant group per article 226 of Iraqi criminal code.
The verdict issued on December 21st states that following lawsuit by secretariat general of Iraqi council of ministers and the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces PMF in 2017, has found Mohammed Othman, in charge of Kirkuk office for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK, guilty accusing the plaintiff of burning houses of Kurdish people following October 2017 events.
Article 226 states any one publicly “insults” the government, armed forces, official and non-official bodies and commissions, will face imprisonment up to seven years or financial penalty.
The penalty is suspended as the convicted has no criminal record.
The second part of the verdict declares “taking into consideration the special circumstances of the criminal and the details of the case, we found out he is old and has no criminal records and no indication for further crimes in the future, court has decided to suspend the verdict for three years…. Any crimes committed during that period, will sustain current penalty.”
The defendant has the right to ask for penalty in civil courts, the verdict concluded.
KirkukNow has found out the case is dated back to 2017, When Othman, who was then a member of the Iraqi parliament, in a press conference held at Kirkuk office of Iraqi parliament accused the PMF of setting fire to houses and properties of Kurdish people.
Kurds were holding the senior position in Kirkuk including governor of Kirkuk up to October 2017 Iraqi troops ousted the Kurdish forces following declaration of victory over the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant ISIL.
Back in 2018, the Turkmens and Arabs each have got each three seats of the 12 parliamentary seats of Kirkuk and the rest six has gone to the PUK, one of the key Kurdish parties and stakeholder of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government KRG along with its decades’ ally-competitor KDP which boycootd elections in Kirkuk.
In October 10th general elections, Turkmen candidates have won two seats while the Arabs have got four seats. PUK has lost half of its seats, 2 to KDP and one for the New generation.
Kirkuk, 238 km north of Baghdad & Iraq's second largest oil reserves, is ethnically a mixed province for 1.7 million Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. It has long been at the center of the disputed territories between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.
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.
