In late January 2008, Kurdish authorities withdrew CPTers’ visas and ordered the team to leave Iraq within a week. This appears to have been due to lingering concerns by officials related to the previous years’ kidnappings of CPTers, and to suspicions and misunderstandings about the team’s most recent activities in Iraqi Kurdistan. In response, CPT and its supporters advocated vigorously within the KRG and the USA for the team to remain in Iraq in order to continue its peacemaking and human rights work. Kurdish authorities have now said that they are willing to issue visas to CPTers, but only on a month by month basis. Despite this limitation, the team believes that they can continue to do important work and they look forward to returning to northern Iraq in April 2008 after a brief break at home.
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