BAGHDAD, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- The prime
minister of northern Iraq's Kurdistan government
pardoned a journalist just a week after he received
an 18-month sentence for articles accusing one of
the region's top leaders of corruption, a government
spokesman said.
Dr.Kamal Karim, an Iraqi-born dual Austrian
national, was arrested in October for the articles
on a Kurdish Web site criticizing Massoud Barzani of
the Kurdish Democratic Party. His sentence was
handed down March 26.
The prime minister issued the pardon under pressure
from local and international groups, said the
regional spokesman, Mohammed Khoshna.
This act "proves that the government maintains and
supports democracy in this region," Khoshna said. |

Dr Kamal Said Qadir, Austrian citizen, an
international legal expert, writer and human rights
activist |