Court sentences Iraqi Kurd opposition leader to five months jail

SULAIMANIYAH (AFP): A court in Iraqi Kurdistan sentenced opposition leader Shaswar Abdulwahid to five months in prison on Tuesday, his lawyer and party said.

The businessman-turned-politician heads the New Generation party, which holds 15 of the 100 seats in the northern region’s parliament, and nine of 329 seats in Iraq’s parliament.

His party serves as the main opposition to the autonomous Kurdish region’s two historic parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The court sentenced Abdulwahid to “five months in prison,” his lawyer Bashdar Hasan told AFP, adding that his team would appeal.

New Generation vowed in a statement to intensify its efforts against the KDP and the PUK, and expressed readiness for Iraq’s legislative elections in November.

The party is part of the electoral alliance led by Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani for the elections, which are often marked by heated political wrangling.

Abdulwahid was arrested on August 12 at his home in Sulaimaniyah, the second-largest city in Kurdistan and a PUK stronghold, in a defamation case filed by a former MP.

He has been arrested several times since he launched his party in 2017. He was also wounded in an assassination attempt.

Iraqi Kurdistan portrays itself as a haven of stability, but activists and opponents frequently denounce corruption, arbitrary arrests and violations of press freedom and the right to protest.

Ten days after Abdulwahid was detained, clashes erupted in Sulaimaniyah during the arrest of another opposition figure, former PUK senior leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi.