Roj Bash !

The Kurdish Referendum Movement (a referendum for an independant Kurdistan) does not seem to be liked by the Kurdish Democratic Party… Amnesty International has started a campaign concerning the lawyer Kamal Sayid Qadir, “rapted” according the NGO in Hewlêr, by KDP forces.

Amnesty pretends to have asked informations about this arrest, and says that the Kurdish government did not answer.

In the aim to clarify and to present objectively the facts, let’s remind firstly what’s happened, and after we shall expose three points of view (or versions) of the case : Amnesty and KRM claiming, KRG version, and a “neutral” point of view from an ordinary citizen of Hewlêr…

Kamal Sayid Qadir, an Austrian of Kurdish origin, has been arrested on 26 October, by KDP forces or Parastin. Amnesty claims that he is secretly detained, and that no lawuer nor any member of his family could met him. So the NGO fears that he could be tortured or badly treated.

President of Austria has mentionned the case to Masud Barzani, when the former visited this country and Masud Barzani has answered that Kamal Sayid Qadir will have a “fair trial” in Hewlêr.

According to the KRM and Amnesty, Kamal Sayid Qadir is imprisonned for papers that he has written in Austria, before he came back in Kurdistan. In these articles, he would have criticized the KDP and Masud Barzani.

The KRG explains that Kamal Sayid Qadir, has insulted publically Barzani : these insults were not political critics but an offence forbidden by the Kurdish law : it is in fact illegal to insult someone or his family, whoever the victim could be, President or “lambda” citizen. So, Kamal Sayid Qadir should be judged, as any anonymous people, in Hewlêr.

Now the neutral version : I could have collected the advice of an ordinary man in Hewlêr, not exceedingly pro-Barzani, not exceedingly anti-KDP : “He had really insulted Barzani, and here, it’s forbidden to insult anybody like he has done. So he will be judged as anybody. Now who could say that the court will be independant at 100%…”

So let’s continue to watch the case… We could suppose that Barzani, who is not stupid, could ask to “independant judges” to be not so strict because of Amnesty campaign or Asutria…

We could wonder too if that case does not show a certain cultural “shift” between diaspora and local Kurds. In Middle-East people are very sensitive concerning personnal insults (or against their family), and before starting a political activity, it would be better to be informed of laws in the country…

By the way I would like to know, for having a fair advice, what are exactly the delictuous “insults”, and if they are deliberately private, defamatory, or only politics. If some of people have exact quotations, let’s send us. We are going to pursue our impartial investigation…