Twelve Years After the Assassination of Kawa Garmyani: New Revelations From Inside Prison

Peregraf - Twelve years after the assassination of journalist Kawa Garmyani, new details have emerged from inside the prison where the convicted killer revealed a complete account of the crime - including the identity of the political official he said ordered the murder.

On the night of December 5, 2013, at around 9 PM, journalist Kawa Garmyani, editor-in-chief of Rayal magazine, was shot dead in the courtyard of his mother’s house in Kalar. Only one man - the shooter - was sentenced to death. But according to Kawa’s wife, Shirin Amin, the full truth behind the crime never reached the courtroom.

Speaking exclusively to Peregraf on the 12th anniversary of the assassination, Shirin recounts the killer’s confession inside prison, the alleged role of a senior political figure, and the evidence the family says has been concealed for over a decade.

"I would have killed anyone he asked me to"

Shirin describes two long meetings inside prison with the man convicted of killing her husband. It was the killer who asked to meet the family - not the other way around.

"He told us: I loved that official so much that if he asked me to kill someone close to me, I wouldn’t refuse. I hadn’t seen or known Kawa. I searched for his picture on the internet to recognize him."

The killer, she says, insisted he had no personal dispute with Kawa. "He had monitored him, searched for his photo online, and even asked directions from a neighbor," she told Peregraf.

According to Shirin, the killer admitted that he carried out the assassination on the direct orders of a member of the PUK Political Bureau. The family says the killer remained on the phone with this official up to the moment he knocked on Kawa’s door.

"He said: I’m going now, I’m at the door, I will shoot him now. These words were in a phone call we have documented, and we have the SIM number," Shirin says.

The official Shirin Amin refers to is Mahmoud Sangawi, the former member of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)’s politburo. Early in the investigation into Kawa Garmyani’s murder, Sangawi appeared before a judge as a suspect and was briefly detained on accusations of being behind the assassination. Suspicion fell on him from the very start, particularly because he had previously threatened the journalist over the phone regarding a news story. However, he has consistently denied orchestrating the crime or having any involvement in it.

Why the killer changed his story

During his trial, the shooter denied the involvement of any other person. So why did he later confess?

Shirin says the killer told them he had been promised protection: "They promised he would not be punished or imprisoned." But once inside prison, his situation deteriorated. He felt abandoned - especially after the suspicious death of his own brother, who had driven the car during the assassination.

His brother, was killed on the Kalar–Kifri road on September 21, 2021. Security forces at the time blamed ISIS. But according to Shirin:

"The killer in prison believed his brother was killed intentionally."

His brother’s death, she says, was a turning point - the moment he decided to speak.

Two weeks of surveillance, and the final night

The killer described to the family how the assassination was planned and executed:

- The plan was arranged two weeks before the killing.
- He had watched Kawa constantly but never found him alone.
- On the final night, Kawa and Shirin were visiting Kawa’s mother due to an electricity outage at home.
- The house had guests, and the killer waited for them to leave before approaching.

At around 9 PM, a man appeared at the courtyard door.

"Auntie, I’m Kawa’s friend, call him for me," he said, according to Kawa’s mother, Sunur Abdulkarim, who previously spoke to Peregraf.

Within moments, Kawa stepped out - and was shot dead at the doorway.

Although seven rifles were brought to court, Shirin says none of them was proven to be the murder weapon.

"The weapon used to kill Kawa was removed from evidence. It was never brought to court. But we have its photo, its number, and details about the car used that night."

She says the family possesses documents and evidence that were never presented in the case, which they may use in future legal steps outside Iraq.

A confession cut short

The family and their lawyer met the killer twice. The second meeting was on a Thursday. Three days later, he was scheduled to appear before a judge and reveal the full account formally.

But that never happened.

"He was determined to tell the truth. He even said if they allowed him, he would hold a press conference. But he never appeared before the judge, and we were never allowed to see him again," Shirin says.

A family shaped by tragedy

Kawa was the eldest of six siblings. His father died in a traffic accident when Kawa was six, leaving his mother to raise the family alone. Shirin herself comes from a family destroyed by the Anfal genocide; she lost all her relatives and grew up in her aunt’s care.

Seventeen days after Kawa was killed, their only son - Amed - was born. He is now 12 years old.

"The case is closed politically, but not for us"

Shirin insists the case was shut down under political pressure, not due to lack of evidence.

"For the ruling party and the man behind the murder, the case is closed. But for us, for organizations, for activists, and for Kurds in the diaspora, it remains open. It has gone from a local Garmyan case to a global one."

With what she describes as hidden, unpresented evidence, Shirin believes the case could take "a new phase" beyond Iraq’s judicial system.