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Kurds protest in Iraqi Kurdistan capital
against new anti-demos law
5.1.2011
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Aso
Karim, form the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),
defended the law and said Kurdistan’s “current
fragile democracy” meant that some restrictions were
necessary.
January 5, 2011
ERBIL-Hewlêr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — As part of the wave of
ongoing protests against the Demonstration Law, more
than a thousand protesters took to the main street
in Erbil, the capital city of Kurdistan region on
Tuesday, to condemn a new law requiring all public
demonstrations to have government permits.
Protesters said the law was part of a broader
crackdown on free speech in Iraq’s semiautonomous
Kurdistan region. In the past six months, the
government has sued at least 60 writers or media
organizations for publishing work critical of the
government, according to the Kurdistan Journalists’
Syndicate.
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Kurdistan's new Demonstration Law has outraged Iraqi
Kurds who view it as an attack on their freedom of
speech.----- Photo: Rozh Ahmad/Rudaw. |
Kurdistan’s new
Demonstration Law requires that prior permission for
the holding of a demonstration must be granted by
authorities.
This has provoked outrage from civil society
organizations and the general populace, and, in a
bid to have the law amended, demonstrations have
erupted out across the semiautonomous Kurdistan
region in recent weeks,www.ekurd.netwith
especially fierce and large protests in Sulaimaniyah
province.
More than 50 local civil society and rights
organizations, who previously urged Kurdistan
President Massoud Barzani not to sign off on the
bill, have described the law as “undemocratic” and
an attack on the freedom of expression.
“The authorities are restricting our freedom,” said
18-year-old university student Dyari Yassin at
yesterday’s protest. “This is a threat to future
generations.”
Ali Mahmoud, a demonstration organizer from rights
group Kurdocide Watch, told Rudaw the protestors’
main aim was to urge parliament to amend the law so
as to “further democracy in all spheres of life in
the Kurdistan region.”
The protestors – many with gaffer-taped mouths and
their hands tied together to symbolize the loss of
freedom of speech – included civil rights activists,
opposition lawmakers, students and, near the end of
the protest, some of the local journalists who had
come to cover the event.
"Freedom of expression is dying on the cross," read
some of the protestor’s placards.
Tension ran high between the demonstrators and the
dozens of riot police equipped with shields and
water canons when the marchers chanted
anti-government slogans, but no violent incidents
occurred.
“The police in this region have been heavy handed in
the past,” said Kamaran Muhammad, a journalist
participating in the protest. “So the public do not
trust them anymore and they are opposing [the law]".
However, Aso Karim, lawmaker with the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP), defended the law and told
Rudaw that Kurdistan’s “current fragile democracy”
meant that some restrictions were necessary.
“There are two sets of rights,” said Karim. “One set
is absolute and nonnegotiable, but the other set can
sometimes be restricted for the general good of the
public.”
But Abdulla Malla Nuri, a lawmaker from the
opposition Gorran party, said a law that
contradicted Iraq’s constitution was unjustifiable.
“There is a political attempt from the ruling
parties to exploit this situation in order to make
Kurdistan a totalitarian government with a
democratic façade,” said Mr. Nuri.
At the end of the demonstration, protest
representatives entered the parliament buildings to
discuss their demands. According to a protest
spokesman, this resulted in the parliament speaker
agreeing to discuss the Demonstration Law in
parliament in the near future, with the view of
possible amendments.
The law was passed with a narrow majority of 52 to
42 votes, and signed off by Kurdistan’s president
last month.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
rudaw.net | nytimes.com
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