Political activist and journalist Şêrwan Şêrwanî began a hunger strike on April 22, Kurdish Journalism Day.
Regarding Şêrwanî’s action, activist Îbrahîm Ebas stated: “Due to the legal violations experienced throughout his five years of imprisonment and all unlawful practices directed against him, our friend and brother, journalist Şêrwan Şêrwanî, has begun a hunger strike on April 22, Kurdish Journalism Day. Şêrwan Şêrwanî’s demand was an official and legal one; residence permit, conditional release, and the right to be transferred to Sulaymaniyah. While this right is granted to every detainee in the Kurdistan Region, Şêrwan Şêrwanî has been deprived of it.”
Activist Ebas added: “The pressures exerted by the prison administration have become routine; Şêrwanî’s legal rights as a convict and detainee are not being taken into consideration.”
Today marks the 128th anniversary of the publication of the first Kurdish newspaper, ‘Kurdistan.’ Journalist Şêrwan Şêrwanî has been in prison for more than five years, and his sentence has been extended through political decisions.
Şêrwan Şêrwanî, his colleagues Guhdar Zebari and Ayaz Karam, and activists Shivan Saeed Omar and Hariwan Issa were each sentenced to six years in prison on 16 February 2021 for “undermining national security.” All five had been arrested in October in connection with anti-government protests in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). The trial against them drew sharp international criticism, as the entire proceedings as well as the sentences appeared politically motivated. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (KDP) had publicly described the activists and journalists from the Behdinan region as “agents” and accused them of espionage only a few days before the verdict was announced. The people concerned firmly reject these accusations and have filed an appeal.
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