CPT: Judiciary System is Being Used As Political Tool

PUKMEDIA

Head of the Iraqi Kurdistan team of CPT.

Sherwan Sherwani's case and the Badinan prisoners raised the voice of the Community Peacemaker Teams - Iraqi Kurdistan (CPT) who announced: "The judiciary system has completely failed, its not independent but  is subjected to political interference" 

The head of the Iraqi Kurdistan team of CPT said in a press conference regarding the case of journalist and activist Sherwan Sherwani: "We as CPT have observed 24 court trials of all the Badinan Presinors On July 20th we observed the trial of Sherwan Sherwani,we are here to share the violations that we observed during the process."

He said: "We observed that it wasn't a fair trial, the defending lawyers weren't allowed to see any materials before the trial began, how can anyone properly defend themselves if they don't even know what they're defending themselves against?"

"We also observed that it was an unjust sentencing and an unjust punishment, when the court brought in witnesses to testify against Sherwan Sherwani, all the witnesses said that we had given Sherwan Sherwani the permission," he added. 

"The Erbil prison was arguing that it was hurting their reputation yet the document that this argument was forged was distributed inside the prison so how could it even be possible that their reputation was being impacted," he stated.

"We are also concerned about the treatment of the prisoners, we are concerned about the use of torture, the access to medical support the access to legal resources," he continued. "Unfortunately, it's very obvious that there is political interference in the judiciary system, it is not independent and free, the judiciary system is being used as a political tool to punish suppress and oppress activists and journalists. The government is using the judiciary system to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of press"

"Sherwan Sherwani is being targeted journalists and activists are being targeted freedom of speech is being targeted independent journalists are being targeted, Iraqi Kurdistan is not a safe place for activists and journalists to speak out against injustice," he further stated.


"We call for the release of Sherwan Sherwani and all of the Badinan prisoners, we call on all the consulates the international community parliamentarians anybody to use their voice to use their diplomatic channels to use all of their to pressure the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) to question the KRG, to question how the judiciary system is being interfered by the political parties to protect human rights to protect the basic human rights," he said in conclusion.



PUKMEDIA