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Kurdistan

CPT International: Borders are the wounds from which Mother Earth bleeds

The border cuts right through our ancestral land in Zagros. It has given us division, landmines, wars, among other atrocities. It has made us Iraqis on one side and Iranians on the other. Even the minerals, the other than human populations of trees, rivers and lakes have been divided that way. There are rivers whose source they claim to be Iranian and whose waters downstream to be Iraqi. So absurd and totalist is that border.

Prayers for Peacemakers 31 March 2021 Iraqi Kurdistan

Please pray for a fair appeal process for Sherwan Sherwani, Eyaz Karam, Shivan Saeed, Hariwan Essa and Guhdar Zebari. They were unjustly sentenced to six-year prison terms on 16 February and have been on a hunger strike since then. Please pray for the release of more than 20 journalists and civil rights activists from the Badinan region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Some have been held in government prisons for more than six months for reporting on corruption in the political parties, advocating for civil rights and participating in nonviolent protests.

Freedom of Expression Under Threat: Iraqi Kurdistan court rules that speaking to the U.S. Consulate and international organizations about human right is an act of espionage

REPORT | On 16 February 2021, the Criminal Court of the First Instance in Erbil found five freelance journalists and civil rights activists guilty of “espionage” and “conspiracy to commit acts that destabilize national security and stability” under Article 1 of Iraqi Kurdistan’s Parliamentary Law No. 21 of 2003. Journalists Sherwan Sherwani, Eyaz Karam and Guhdar Zebari and activists Shivan Saeed and Hariwan Essa were each sentenced to six-year prison terms.

ΑΝΑΓΚΑΣΤΙΚΗ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΥΣΗ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΝΤΙΓΙΑΡΜΠΑΚΙΡ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΘΗΝΑ (Μέρος B’)[1]

Ν.U. Τι βιώσατε στις φυλακές της Χίου; F. Είναι μια μικρή, παλιά φυλακή. Υπήρχαν 200 άτομα και δέκα θαλάμοι. 20-24 άτομα μένουν στους θαλάμους, υπερπλήρεις. Υπήρχε μόνο μία τουαλέτα και μια μικρή κουζίνα για κάθε θάλαμο. Το φαγητό ήταν πολύ κακό. Εάν κάποιος είχε χρήματα, μπορούσε να ψωνίσει στην αγορά φυλακών. Περισσότεροι από τους μισούς στη φυλακή έπρεπε να τρώνε αυτά τα άθλια γεύματα επειδή δεν είχαν χρήματα. Υπήρχαν πολλές διαφορετικές εθνικότητες εκεί, Ρώσοι, Τούρκοι, Αλβανοί, Κούρδοι, Άραβες, Αφγανοί, Αφρικανοί, Πακιστανοί, Ιρανοί ... Όλοι σε ομάδες σύμφωνα με τη γλώσσα και τη χώρα τους.

FORCED MIGRATION FROM DİYARBAKIR TO ATHENS: Part 2

NU: How would you evaluate the legal process in Greece for migrants? F: Migrants cannot explain their troubles. The interpreters are very bad, and migrants cannot even contact their lawyers. If you do not submit additional evidence to the courts, the investigating judge closes the file, and then a new court board is appointed. So nobody truly understands your case. It is decided in a single session, very quickly. They rule according to the judgments of the previous prosecutor and judge without ever seeing you. Even if they see you, they do not ask a single question. The hearing takes only five to ten minutes.

Prayers for Peacemakers 17 February 2021 Iraqi Kurdistan

Please pray that justice prevails over political agenda during the appeal of the six-year prison sentence for independent journalists Sherwan Sherwani, Eyaz Karam, Guhdar Zebari and civil rights activists Shvan Saeed and Hariwan Essa, known as the “Badinan prisoners”.  The criminal court sentenced five of CPT Iraqi Kurdistan’s partners, who are known for exposing political corruption and organizing civil rights initiatives, to six-year prison terms under the pretext of espionage and activities undermining state unity and security.  
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