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Police,
civil servants punished for not voting, Kurdistan-Iraq
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Police, civil servants punished for not
voting, Kurdistan-Iraq
16.11.2005
By Wirya Hama Tahir in Kelar
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Policemen jailed and a minister fired for boycotting
the constitution poll.
Dozens of policemen and government employees in
Sulaimaniyah province have been reprimanded, fired
or imprisoned for not voting in the constitutional
referendum.
Civil servants and police officers said they had no
idea their decisions not to vote in the October 15
poll might cost them their jobs or land them in
jail. They cried foul, noting that the punishments
violated democratic principles and their civil
rights.
Kurdish officials and a police chief admitted they
punished government employees for not voting, saying
they had a democratic duty to go to the polls.
Fatah Zakhoyee, culture minister in the Kurdistan
regional government's Sulaimaniyah administration,
was the highest-ranking official to be dismissed.
Like many Kurds in northern Iraq, he chose to stay
away from the polls rather than cast a ballot
against the constitution. He is a senior member of
the Kurdish referendum movement that advocates
independence for the north - something the
constitution does not address. All of its senior
members decided not to vote, he told the local
newspaper, Hawlati.
“The government didn't issue a formal decision
obliging government employees to vote," the
newspaper quoted him as saying. "Besides, the
council of ministers did not discuss this issue.”
The Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq
reported that voter turnout in the Kurdish
territories was the highest in the country, but the
figures are questioned on the streets.
Many opposed to the constitution did not participate
in the referendum. They said their votes probably
would not counted for much because they hold a
minority view and were also wary of possible vote
rigging by charter-supporting Kurdish parties.
In Kelar province, about 35 officers in the Garmian
police department were interrogated – and some
jailed for five to six days – because they did not
participate in the ballot.
Kelar, which is home to around 200,000 people, lies
approximately 140 kilometres south of Sulaimaniyah
in northeastern Iraq.
"I did not believe in the constitution so I didn't
vote," said one officer who’d been questioned. "How
can a human being be punished for his opinions and
beliefs?
"On TV, they say there is democracy in our country.
I don't vote, and this is democracy."
Another policeman said he couldn't vote because he
was working and his polling station was far from the
station - but was given a jail sentence,
nonetheless.
"They knew I was on duty," he said. "This
imprisonment is unfair and is a human rights
violation."
"This is the military," said Colonel Salam Rasul
Qadir, head of the Garmian police department. "There
is no democracy."
He admitted that policemen who didn't vote has been
interrogated and punished. He said they wanted to
raise their awareness of the political process.
"These are hicks," he said. "They do not know what
the constitution is and the benefits it offers."
According to regulations issued by the Independent
Electoral Commission in Iraq, officials cannot
question or punish citizens and government employees
about their voting preferences. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which Iraq adopted,
protects the right of citizens to vote.
Jamal Abdulla, the Sulaimaniyah government’s media
and public relations director, defended ministries
that punished employees for not voting.
“Ordinary citizens have the right to vote or not,"
Abdulla said. "But government employees have a
responsibility and should vote for the sake of
public interest.
"The government sees voting as a social
responsibility. That’s why the interrogations are
justified.”
Hussein Ali, a civil servant in the Sulaimaniyah
public works and reconstruction ministry, disagreed.
He said his boss reprimanded him for not voting,
calling him a traitor and threatening to fire him.
Fatima Walid Mohammed, head of the electoral
commission's Kelar office, said the ministries who
punished employees for not voting "should know these
acts are wrong”.
Wirya Hama Tahir in Kelar is an IWPR trainee
journalist in Kelar.
www.iwpr.net
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