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Writer 'Dr.Kamal' jailed for defaming
Kurdish leader in Iraq
27.3.2006
By Shamal Aqrawi
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ERBIL, Kurdistan-Iraq, March 26 (Reuters) - A
Kurdish writer was sentenced to 1-1/2 years in
prison on Sunday for defaming Kurdish leader Massoud
Barzani, in a case that has raised questions about
the freedom of the press in post-war Iraq.
Kamal Karim, an Iraqi-born Kurd with Austrian
citizenship, was originally sentenced to 30 years in
jail for defaming Barzani but was retried.
"I swear by God I am not guilty. I am not satisfied
with this verdict. I am a victim," Karim said after
the sentence was pronounced.
The judge said the court had been lenient.
"This sentence is fair and it is proportionate to
the charges against him," Faridoun Abdullah told
Reuters.
"We helped him. We took into consideration that he
is an academic and has served in the education
field. So we sentenced him to a year and a half.
Otherwise we would have sentenced him to five
years." |
Dr Kamal Said Qadir, Austrian citizen, an
international legal expert, writer and human rights
activist |
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Karim was convicted by a state security court in
Erbil after an hour-long trial on December 19 on
charges of defaming Barzani and public institutions.
He was arrested in October.
Karim had published articles on a Kurdish Web site
accusing Barzani and his Kurdistan Democratic Party
(KDP) of corruption and abuse of power.
European president Austria has called for Karim's
release.
Barzani -- also president of the Kurdistan region --
and other Kurdish leaders promised a new era of
democracy after 2003's U.S.-led invasion toppled
Saddam Hussein.
PROUD OVER HUMAN RIGHTS
The Kurdish north has since prided itself on having
a better human rights record than elsewhere in Iraq,
where sectarian violence has raised fears of civil
war.
"This court is unfair. I want a fair trial," said
Karim before he was sentenced.
The writer was brought to court in December for what
he was told would be a procedural hearing, the New
York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
said, basing its account on an e- mail written by
Karim.
When he arrived at the court in Erbil, he was told
he was on trial. He had only five minutes to confer
with a defence lawyer and the trial lasted just one
hour, the CPJ said.
"Everything is possible in the courts of Kurdistan
and the law is not applied in the right way," said
Samir Salim of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, which
faced riots and attacks after it broke from the
alliance that includes Barzani's KDP.
On March 17, security forces working for the other
main Kurdish party, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, arrested Hawez Hawezi,
a high-school teacher who also writes.
He was charged with defaming the Kurdistan regional
government after an article he wrote on corruption
appeared in the Hawlati newspaper, an editor at the
paper, who asked not to be named, said on Sunday.
Hawezi was released on bail and is awaiting trial.
An editor at Hawlati said Hawezi had been beaten
while being driven to detention in Sulaimaniyah.
"We call on the authorities to dismiss this case at
once. Rather than pursue a journalist for doing his
job the Kurdish authorities would do well to
investigate those who assaulted our colleague Hawez
Hawezi," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper.
"Such arbitrary and heavy-handed treatment of the
press by Kurdish authorities shows that their
reputation for tolerance of free media is
undeserved."
Reuters
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