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Kurdistan: Dissident Watch - Dr.Kamal
Sayid Qadir case
10.3.2006
By Michael Rubin
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On October 26, 2005, security officers associated
with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani’s Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) detained Kurdish writer and
Austrian citizen Kamal Sayid Qadir in Erbil,
northern Iraq. Qadir had angered Barzani with
several articles describing corruption and nepotism
in his administration of the Kurdistan Regional
Government.[1] Barzani’s militia subsequently held
Qadir for weeks without charge and without access to
an attorney or his family.
On November 9, International PEN, a London-based
press freedom advocacy organization, wrote to
Barzani. The KDP office in London answered that the
Kurdish government had arrested Qadir for defamation
of “certain prominent elected official
politicians.”[2] After a one-hour trial, a Kurdish
court convicted and sentenced Qadir to 30 years in
prison. The Committee to Protect Journalists said
that Qadir had only five minutes to confer with a
court-appointed defense attorney before trial and
sentence.[3] |
Dr Kamal Said Qadir, Austrian citizen, an
international legal expert, writer and human rights
activist |
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On January 7, 2006, Masrour Barzani, son of Masoud
and head of KDP intelligence, wrote that, “People
should not libel and accuse others just because they
want to,” but added that “no one in our family has
filed any complaints.” However, Masrour said that
others “have complained and had him [Qadir] arrested
by the order of the court.”[4] The Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) subsequently released a
press statement saying that Qadir had been charged
with defamation of public institutions.[5] Voice of
America radio, in a January 6 editorial “reflecting
the views of the U.S. government,” strongly
condemned Qadir’s detention.[6] In response to the
outcry, the KRG has said it will release and retry
Qadir.
Iraqi Kurdistan is at a political turning point.
Prior to the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s
government, Kurds complained they suffered from two
embargoes: United Nations’ sanctions on Iraq, and
the Iraqi government’s own blockade of the
recalcitrant region. After liberation, aid money and
optimism flooded the region. Investment grew.[7] So,
too, did corruption.
The Barzani family has accumulated up to US$2
billion since Masoud Barzani returned to the region
from exile in 1991.[8] After Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty reported on Iraqi Kurdish corruption,[9] its
reporter received death threats.[10] While the
Barzani family disputes such claims,[11] Iraqi
Kurdish finances remain opaque, and Barzani family
interests are the subject of Kurdish businessmen’s
complaints.
Democracy has faltered. While Kurdistan Democratic
Party officials say that their region is “one of the
few examples of democracy in the Middle East,”[12]
independent human rights groups disagree. An August
2004 Human Rights Watch report chastised the Kurdish
government for ethnic cleansing.[13] Foreigners
visiting Erbil prisons privately report individuals
incarcerated after failing to pay kickbacks to or
accept ghost partnerships with Barzani family
members. Amnesty International chronicles political
arrests.[14] There is decreasing tolerance for
dissent. Prior to the December 15, 2005 Iraqi
elections, a Kurdistan Democratic Party mob sacked
offices of a rival political party. KDP gunmen
assassinated the opposition candidate after storming
his office.[15] Barzani promotes a personality cult,
and young Kurds whisper privately that he is
becoming a new Saddam.
Against this backdrop came Qadir’s bold reporting.
His arrest sparked outrage among a broad swath of
Kurdish society. Iraqi Kurdish poet Kamal Mirawdeli
wrote, “Masoud Barzani makes a fateful mistake if he
thinks that by his illegal and Saddam-style
abduction and imprisonment [he will silence] the
increasing number of courageous Kurdish
intellectuals and writers who are raising their
voices louder and louder against a history of
criminality, corruption, and treachery.”[16]
Qadir’s imprisonment came a day after President
George W. Bush received Barzani in the White House,
calling the Kurdish leader, “a man of courage . . .
a man who has stood up to a tyrant.”[17] Such words
might be better applied to Qadir.
Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at AEI.
www.aei.org
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