ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A court in Sulaimani on Tuesday sentenced Shaswar Abdulwahid, leader of the Kurdistan Region’s largest opposition party, the New Generation Movement (NGM), to five months in jail on charges of threatening a former member of his movement, Rudaw has learned.
Reporting from the Sulaimani Court, Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtiyarr cited NGM members and Abdulwahid’s legal team as confirming the party leader “would be jailed for five months.”
The Tuesday sentence “followed the third hearing in Abdulwahid’s case, after two previous sessions had been postponed,” Bakhtiyarr said.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, NGM lawmaker Goran Dibagayi accused the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Sulaimani of meddling in the case.
“The case was not a legal matter; it was political,” Dibagayi claimed.
The backdrop
Sulaimani security forces arrested Abdulwahid in mid-August, following a judicial decree dated August 3 that revealed the NGM leader had been sentenced in absentia to six months in prison under Article 431 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which pertains to making serious threats against others, their property or their reputation. However, the court on Tuesday reduced the term to five months.
The original complaint dates back to 2021 and was filed by Shadi Nawzad, a former member of the Kurdistan Region’s parliament and of Abdulwahid’s own party, the NGM.
On Monday, the Kurdistan Region’s finance ministry also noted that properties owned by Abdulwahid will be put up for public auction due to accumulated debts amounting to 92 billion Iraqi dinars (around $70 million).
In a statement, the ministry noted that after issuing “several warnings” to Abdulwahid’s Nalia Company to “repay loans and [address] non-compliance,” it now considers it “its legal right to sell all the properties through public auction.”
The confiscated assets include a total of 60 properties, ranging from lands to hotels, cafeterias and tourist cabins.
The ministry’s Monday decision came a week after it had shut down Abdulwahid’s Chavy Land theme park in Sulaimani - one of the largest in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region - due to alleged tax evasion.
Speaking with Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on Monday, Rahman Gharib, director of the Sulaimani-based Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy, commented on Abdulwahid’s case stating, “We would have hoped for a fairer trial,” but “the conditions for a just court are not always available in such a political situation.”
Gharib noted that many previous cases tried under the same article as Abdulwahid’s had resulted in financial penalties or “lesser sentences.” However, he claimed that “because Shaswar [Abdulwahid] is in opposition to the PUK and a vocal [critic] of the PUK and [the Kurdistan Democratic Party] KDP, his trial was expected to be different.”
NGM reacts
NGM on Tuesday described the court’s sentence against its leader as “anticipated,” citing the timing and manner of his arrest, which followed what it said was a “midnight raid on his house by masked forces,” and highlighting “the absence of any evidence or witnesses in the case.”
Of note, the Sulaimani court had previously rejected claims that “masked” personnel were involved in Shaswar’s arrest, stating that the individuals were police officers affiliated with the Kurdistan Region’s interior ministry.
In the wake of Abdulwahid’s mid-August arrest, the NGM had censured the move as an “abduction” carried out without prior notice.
The party alleged that security forces affiliated with the ruling PUK in Sulaimani were behind the arrest. NGM directly accused PUK leader Bafel Talabani and his brother Qubad Talabani - the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister and senior PUK figure - of standing behind the operation.
Late last month, the NGM also raised concerns over Abdulwahid’s health, claiming it had deteriorated since his detention.
However, a Sulaimani court spokesperson then told Rudaw, "We have not been informed about the deterioration of Shaswar Abdulwahid's health condition.” The spokesperson added that if any prisoner’s health deteriorates, “they will either be transferred to a hospital or a special doctor will be provided for them.”
Meanwhile, Srwa Abdulwahid, the opposition leader’s sister and head of NGM’s bloc in the Iraqi parliament, in late August accused the PUK of “violating the law” by “preventing [Shaswar Abdulwahid’s] family and comrades from visiting him.”
She described her brother’s treatment as “arbitrary and illegal,” alleging that the case against him “is purely political, and the public will not remain silent about these violations.”
The NGM is the Kurdistan Region’s most prominent opposition force. Formed by Shaswar Abdulwahid to contest the 2018 regional elections, the party has seen a rapid rise in popularity.
In the Kurdistan Region’s October parliamentary elections, the NGM secured third place, winning 15 out of the 100 seats in the Kurdish legislature.
On Tuesday, the NGM announced that it has laid the groundwork for its participation in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections, slated for November 11. The opposition party is expected to compete against the Kurdistan Region’s ruling KDP and PUK parties.
“We are ready,” NGM said.
Updated at 3:17 pm.
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