ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) security forces on Tuesday released a video of over a dozen protesters in bright orange jumpsuits with their faces hidden, allegedly confessing to damaging public property during large-scale economic demonstrations that shook cities and towns of the Kurdistan Region late last year.
The footage, released by Sulaimani’s internal security forces (Asayish), showed around 18 young men lined up in two rows with their hands tied behind their back, wearing bright jumpsuits.
Some men confessed that they were involved in damaging public property in Sulaimani’s Piramagrun town, including the town’s public library, a cultural center for children, and other buildings.
Thousands of university students in late November took to the street, mainly in Sulaimani and its surrounding towns, calling on the government to reinstate their student allowances. Since the KRG started experiencing financial strains in 2014 after Baghdad stopped paying the share of the KRG from the national budget, the government cut a small allowance that was given to students for their travel expenses.
The riot police deployed tear gas, water canons and rubber bullets against the protesters and in the mayhem a number of buildings in several towns and cities were set alight, reportedly by protesters.
At the time, security forces said that there were individuals infiltrating the peaceful demonstrations, in order to change the direction of the protests, noting that some of the protestors were not students, and blaming them for instigating the violence.
“We burned the library,” one of the detainees, whose face has been blurred, anxiously responds to the interrogating voice in the background of the video who continues to ask questions regarding the incident. It is not clear who stands in the room where these protesters are being interrogated.
.png "The 18 protestors arrested by Sulaimani's internal security forces (Asayish) appeared in orange jumpsuits and hands tied behind their back on January 4, 2021. Photo: Eighteen protestors arrested by Sulaimani security forces for damaging public property during large-scale demonstrations appeared in orange jumpsuits. Photo: screenshot/Sulaimani security directorate Three of the detainees who appeared in the video footage published by Sulaimani security directorate. Photo: screenshot/Sulaimani security directorate")
As the detainees speak, the video shifts to show a few photos of the men in their orange jumpsuits, which invokes scenes from the detainees at the US Guantanamo Bay detention camp and prisoners executed by the Islamic State (ISIS), including captive Peshmerga fighters.
“Posting a video of 18 young Piramagrun demonstrators confessing to the public, especially before their trial [begins], is the downfall of all masks of freedom and democracy in Sulaimani,” a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Kamaran Osman said in a Facebook post.
The footage then shifts back to another young man being asked whether he regrets what he has done.
“Yes,” he says in a heartbeat. “I am willingly saying these things, without any pressure… I am willingly saying these things,” he notes quickly, raising the sense that the person behind the camera is intimidatingly waiting for him to speak.
The others reportedly say similar things, reiterating that their confessions were voluntary and without any external pressure from the security forces. Rudaw can not independently verify if their confessions were voluntary.
“I am regretful. I made a mistake in doing this. I am willingly saying these things without being hit or having violations committed against me,” another detainee says with a blurred face and what seems to be a fearful voice.
The security forces arrested hundreds of people, including students during the protests. Six hundred and three protesters were arrested by the forces between November 21 and 26, according to data provided by CPT to Rudaw English.
“This includes students, teachers, government employees, activists, and normal people, however, most have been released and no student remains in detention right now,” Osman said at the time.
The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) highlighted human rights concerns in the Kurdistan Region in a report published in late December.Attacks on students in #Sulaimaniya is not shocking. In the past decade, Asayish forces of both major parties of @Kurdistan gov have made freedom of expression & assembly one of the most dangerous practices to take part in.A subject discussed only in whispers or cries of agony.
— Raz Salayi🕯️ (@razsalayi) November 25, 2021
Amnesty International in June published a public statement on what they called the “ongoing crackdown of protests by way of arbitrary arrests and harassment” in the Kurdistan Region. The statement concluded that “the KRG authorities have an obligation to uphold basic human rights of freedom of expression, assembly, and press freedom,” and called on authorities in the Kurdistan Region to “put an end to their ongoing crackdown of protests by way of arbitrary arrests and harassment.”
