Erbil's second criminal court release a group of Badinan detainees

On Thursday, the second criminal court in Erbil decided to release a new group of Badinan activists.

During a press conference, The defense team for Badinan detainees announced that the court decided to release Amir Khalid, Kamal Sulaiman, Jamal Khalil, and Frsat Ahmed, who was imprisoned for a year after more than a year had passed since their imprisonment.

On Wednesday, the court released Badal Barwari, who was arrested more than a year in a teachers' demonstration in the Duhok governorate.

Lawyer Bazhdar Hussein, a member of the defense team for Badinan detainees, told PUKmedia, "After determining the period that Professor Badal Berwari spent in detention, he was released and has returned to his home."

"Erbil's second criminal court decided to cancel most of the charges against the Barwari due to the lack of evidence," he added.

"The court issued a sentence for jail against the activist Badal Barwari on charges of demonstrating and forming various groups on social media, and these charges are not true," he explained.

It is noteworthy that 82 journalists and activists have been imprisoned in Erbil for 14 months, 5 of whom were tried for six years in prison, while the trial of a number of them is being postponed, and several others have not yet been tried.

On April 28th,2021, the Court of Cassation in Erbil had approved the imprisonment of 5 journalists and activists in Badinan despite local and international disapproval and denunciations.

The trials of Badinan detainees left local and international echoes and a wave of condemnation and anger, as well as serious doubts about the independence of the judiciary in the Kurdistan Region.



PUKmedia