Peregraf appeals Erbil court ruling in freedom of information case

22-01-2023 03:17

PEREGRAF

Peregraf has appealed two rulings by the Court of First Instance in Erbil, which denied a petition by the media outlet seeking information about how the offices of Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani spend public funds.

The case had been filed as a way to test the procedures outlined under the KRG’s Right to Information Act.

The petition had been accepted by a court in Sulaymaniyah in relation to an identical lawsuit against Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayaq, raising questions about why the court in Erbil had come to a different conclusion.

In a letter to the Erbil Court of Appeals, lawyer Karzan Fazel, who is representing Peregraf’s editor-in-chief, explained that the lower court’s ruling was "illegal and contains many objective errors and injustices" that are contrary to the Civil Justice Act and the Right to Obtain Information Act. He asked the appeals court to review and overturn the decision in new hearings.