PEREGRAF– Farman Sadiq
The bitterness of being away from her children only adds to the suffering of Berivan Ayub, who has spent the last 17 months under great pressure from the authorities in Duhok while languishing in pre-trial detention.
"I have been visited by human rights organizations and parliamentarians and I have asked them all to help me see my children and see my lawyers, but nothing has been done," Auyb told Peregraf in a phone call, the second time she has contracted the outlet this month in an attempt to bring public attention to her case.
"Although innocent, I have been imprisoned for 17 months," she said.
She had been scheduled to go before a judge on February 14, but her trial was postponed by two weeks because one of the judge’s sons was in a car accident shortly before the hearing.
Ayub is part of a group of activists and journalists, known as the Badinan detainees, who were arrested in Duhok governorate in fall 2020. She identifies herself as a civil activist.
She has been charged under the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Law No. 21 of 2003, a national security law that provides for significant jail time if convicted, although some of the other Badninan detainees have been sentenced to time served.
Bashdar Hassan, one of her defense lawyers, told Peregraf that she is accused of planning to blow up the Turkish consulate in Erbil. She denies the charges.
The authorities "were very violent during the investigation and forced me to admit something wrong about myself that I didn't do," Ayub told Peregraf. "They threatened that they wouldn’t let me see my children for the rest of my life. That’s how I was forced to confess."
"I’m deprived of all my rights," she added.
Ayub thinks that part of why she is being targeted is that she was a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) when she was very young. Born in 1986, she briefly joined the group when she was 11-years-old, but returned to Erbil after a year. Since then, she married and had five children, the eldest of whom is 16-years-old.
Unfortunately, her imprisonment has destroyed her marriage and she is in the process of getting a divorce from her husband. Her children are currently living with their father.
Mona Yaqu, head of the Human Rights Commission, visited Ayub for more than one hour at the Correctional Prison earlier this month.
"I told her how we can serve her on the human rights side because the question of criminality is the work of the court. Berivan only asked to see her children, but unfortunately, she has not been able to see them so far because of the problems between her and her husband, who are separated from each other," Yaqu told Peregraf.
She added that Auyb should declare before the judge that her statement was forced under threats from the Asayish. Under KRG law, no confession can be accepted through coercion.
There are further procedural problems with the case. Hassan said that the defense team "has not read the case yet," but that the judge may allow them access to the case files on the day she goes to trial, which is currently scheduled for February 28.
He added that because a lawyer was not present at the time of her interrogation, anything she said at the time should not be admissible.
Moreover, under Iraqi law, pre-trial detention should not last more than six months, unless the court orders it.
Yaqu said she believes that this has been violated in Ayub’s case, since she has been held without trial for 17 months. Objections have been raised with the Asayish and the court.
During her imprisonment, Ayub has staged several hunger strikes to protest the violations against her, demanding to have her day in court. As a result, she has lost 20 kilograms (44 pounds), dropping to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) and is suffering from a variety of health issues, including diabetes and vision problems.
"I think my case has been politically involved and what is being done is psychological war," Ayub said. "When I protest, they threaten me and they won't even let my relatives visit me."
She has been held both in solitary confinement and in overcrowded cells.
"I have paid as much attention to the case as I have seen it. There is no specific crime in it," Badria Ismail, a member of the Kurdistan Parliament's Human Rights Committee told Peregraf.
According to information received by Peregraf, members of the committee requested to see Ayub, but initially were incorrectly taken to meet with a prisoner who has the same first name. Later Ismail and fellow lawmaker Rupak Ahmed were able to meet with Ayub for approximately 40 minutes.
"Berivan was a civil activist who asked for the people's rights," Ismail said. "Her child’s birthday was tragic because she was not able to return and give him a cake."
"It is illegal for her to be in prison for 17 months without trial on the pretext of not having a judge."
The crackdown against journalists and activists in Duhok in 2020, which was perpetrated by the local security forces which are affiliated with the KDP, escalated following a protest by truckers in Zakho on August 19, in which a number of civilians and police were hurt.
Dozens of people were arrested and some have controversially been sentenced to significant jail terms, eliciting local and international condemnation.
"We are from a revolutionary family and my father and brothers have always fought for the independence of their people. I am ready to sacrifice more," Ayub said.
"For those who come to the world freely, prison is only a temporary station for them. Even in here. I live freely."