Duhok activists on hunger-strike jailed

31-01-2019 08:23


Peregraf - Aza Ibrahim

It has been four days since scores of activists have been locked behind bars in Duhok. Some of them have presently started a hunger strike and their relatives are not allowed to see them.

More than 50 activists were detained during a vast operation by the security forces. Only partisan activists, including eight members of Gorran (Change Movement) have been released early. However, more than 50 independent activists remain in jail, according to multiple sources, and legal cases have been opened for them in court through a law which enforces “temporary or permanent detention”.

The security operation came after the activists attempted to proceed with a gathering in support of Shiladze protests, “However, some people have been arrested based on mere suspicion of intending to take part in the gathering.”

One of the activists has been shopping for wedding supplies and accessories, but he found himself caught in the operation.

Sipan Amedi, a member of Kurdish parliament, visited the jailed activists. One of them asked him to speak to his fiancée about the situation, “He asked me to speak to his fiancee, who is unaware of his whereabouts since four days.”

Sipan, a member of the New Generation, visited the jail with the fellow parliamentarians from his bloc.

Amedi called his fiancee and spoke about his condition.

New Generation MPs visited the Duhok Adult Rehabilitation Centre, where some of the activists are jailed. However, many of them are jailed in Asayish (security) detention cells. He said, “Some of the detainees are on a hunger strike.”

Another source confirmed Amedi’s claim regarding the hunger strike.

Most of the detainees have spoken up against Turkish airstrikes in the Kurdistan Region, whether through social media or on the ground.

Fayzi Ramazan, a teacher, is among the detainees. His family is ignorant of his situation in jail. His brother, Idris Ramazan, spoke to Peregraf, “Duhok Asayish does not allow us to visit him.”

Idris said his brother expressed his support to the Shiladze protests on Facebook, “One night after the protest, an Asayish force arrested him at home.”

The arrest of Duhok activists has faced criticism, especially on Facebook, but the authorities have not responded.

Peregraf tried to speak to the families of other activists, but they fear the consequences due to the current security situation. Farhad Atrushi, the governor of Duhok, has been unreachable following several attempts.

Ayhan Saeed, one of the jailed activists, also a member of Gorran, discussed the early stages of their detention. He said, “We were assembled in a large circular  hall, around 70 people. They told us to face the wall. They did not allow us to see the hall.”

Ayhan was freed the night he was detained due to the pressure of his party, “They took our phones and checked the Facebook App of some of us, to see what was there on the protests.”

According to Ayhan, “A number of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) detainees has been released with them”. Peregraf could not verify the claim through PUK officials.

Gorran has been pressurising the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) at the highest level to release their activists. A Gorran official, Muayad Ahmed said, “Eight Gorran activists were arrested, but they were all released the first night.”

Ahmed called the chief of Duhok Asayish to release their activists, and says that Gorran officials also contacted KDP officials about the matter.

He says the security forces of Duhok are “partisan” and do not act as a state institution, “We ask the security forces to act independently, and put an end to this unstable situation.”

Shiladze residents, in Amedi district of Duhok, carried out a protest march on the 26th of  January, setting a Turkish military base close to the town on fire. One of the teenage protesters was killed after Turkish armed forces opened fire against them. Ten more were wounded. This act made the protesters even more frustrated.

In Shiladze demonstrators set a Turkish military base on fire 26th January 2019

Sipan says all the activists were arrested according to the Iraqi Penal Code of 156, which concerns sedition and sabotage of public order, “This is unfair towards the protesters. They only asked for the foreign forces to leave the region. Why is this law being used against them?”

Choman Muhammad, a lawyer, explains that the 156 law has been suspended according to a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) law in 2003, and instead, an article is used for sabotage, to which the punitive measure is “temporary or permanent detention”.

This law is often used instead of the Anti-terrorism law, Muhammad says, “That law can be used by the authorities to silence rivals.”

Shiladze protests came after a series of Turkish airstrikes in the Kurdistan Region killed four civilians on the 23rd of January, and two went missing.

In Shiladze demonstrators controlled a Turkish military base

Turkish airstrikes have always been deplored by the people of the Kurdistan Region, and the parliament has repeatedly asked for their termination, but they continue to bomb the border areas of the Kurdistan region with the pretext of the presence of Turkey's Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.