5 January 2006

Alert

Thirty-year prison sentence for criticising Kurdish regional president in Internet articles


Incident details

Kamal Sayid Qadir

journalist(s)

sentenced

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(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has written to the president of the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, asking him to intervene in the case of an Austrian citizen of Kurdish origin, Kamal Sayid Qadir, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison on 19 December 2005 for libelling him in articles posted on the Internet.

"This incident bodes ill for freedom of expression in Iraq's Kurdish region," the press freedom organisation wrote. "We condemn the use of prison sentences to punish press offences and we are especially shocked by the length of this sentence, even if Qadir really did libel you. We therefore hope you will intervene to obtain his release and thereby show you intend to establish a fair judicial system in your region that complies with international standards."

Qadir was arrested on 26 October by members of the Parastin, a security service operated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the region's two ruling parties. He is currently held in a prison in Erbil, one of the region's main cities.

A lawyer normally based in Vienna, Qadir, 48, is accused of libelling and insulting Barzani in web articles. He has written dozens of articles for websites such as http://www.kurdishmedia.com and http://www.kurdistanpost.com in which he has been very critical of Barzani's policies. He was reportedly convicted on the basis of Kurdish customary law and not the law approved by the regional parliament.

According to his sister, who lives in Germany, he has been on hunger strike for more than a week in protest against his conviction.



Source:

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
France
rsf (@) rsf.org
Phone: +33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51
@rsf_rwb
 

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More on this case

Cyber-dissident Kamal Sayid Qadir released 4 April 2006 Kurdish-born Austrian cyber-dissident jailed for 18 months for online "defamation" 27 March 2006 RSF calls for release of imprisoned cyber-dissident Kamal Sayid Qadir, subject to torture and death threats 3 March 2006 Writer Kamal Sayid Qadir transferred to a prison hospital; serious health concerns 22 February 2006 Cyber-dissident still in prison despite release announcement 3 February 2006 CPJ protests 30-year jail term for Kurdish writer on defamation conviction 12 January 2006 Kurdish regional government says 30-year sentence was imposed for defaming public institutions 11 January 2006 Writer detained for articles critical of Kurdish authorities 14 December 2005

Iraq

Television news crew assaulted, equipment confiscated 11 May 2012 Editor held illegally for six days because of corruption coverage 2 May 2012 Media freedom increasingly under threat 13 April 2012 Car bomb kills TV presenter in Tikrit 3 April 2012 Security forces clamp down on demonstrations in Sulaimaniya and Baghdad 1 March 2012 See all alerts: Iraq


 
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