Journalist Sherwan Sherwani
SCORES of people detained in Iraqi Kurdistan are being held illegally, suffering torture and having confessions extracted by force, according to a report published today.
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor found that some 26 detainees arrested in the regional capital Erbil by the Parastin intelligence services, linked to the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), had suffered physical and psychological torture.
Civil activist Ayhan Saeed, brother of Shafan Saeed, a teacher who was detained, said: “My brother Shafan was arrested on October 22 2020 illegally by an unknown disguised security force and he has been under arrest since then.
Groups are urging the US government to secure the 16-year old’s release as his mental and physical health decline dramatically after nine months inside Ofer prison, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
JOE ATTARD explains why trade unionists are rallying in solidarity against the recent arrest of political activists in Gilgit-Baltistan, the northernmost region of Kashmir, administered by Pakistan
