ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In a small, crowded courtroom in Erbil’s appellate criminal court on Monday morning, several Kurdistan Region politicians, European consulate representatives, and members of the Kurdistan Human Rights Commission and Iraqi Kurdistan Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) began observing the trial of Berivan Ayoub Hassan; a 35-year old mother of five held without charge for over 16 months in Iraq’s autonomous region. Attempts to supervise the legal process fell short, again, as the judge found grounds to adjourn the session for a second time.
Berivan, who stood in a metal-barred cage for the duration of the inconclusive trial, was arrested in Majidi Mall in Erbil on October 13, 2020, according to international violence-reduction and human rights organisation CPT.
Earlier that year, in April 2020, Berivan participated in a demonstration protesting against corruption and unpaid wages in Duhok which saw the arrest of around 300 Badinans; 80 of whom were kept in prolonged detention on charges including undermining the security and stability of the Region.
Along with dozens of other demonstrators, the mother from Duhok has been imprisoned since her arrest in October 2020 almost 17 months ago, denied both access to her children and agency to challenge the grounds on which she is held. According to CPT, Berivan was unable to see her lawyer for a year, and legal representation was not available to her during interrogations.
On Monday, Rudaw English understands, her defence lawyer Bashdar Hassan received the details of the prosecution’s charges against her less than ten minutes before the trial began.
Overseeing proceedings in the court, spread across around a dozen chairs with several forced to stand to the sides of the room, were three members of CPT, alongside Kurdistan Region parliamentarians Ali Hama Salih, Shyan Askary, Gulistan Saeed, Shirin Ameen, Haliz Botany, Rupak Ahmed, and Ashna Abdullah, Head of the Kurdistan Independent Commission for Human Rights Muna Yaku, and European Union and German representatives. Members of Berivan’s family were not allowed to attend, according to CPT.
Stood for well over an hour in a locked cage that loomed over her small figure, Berivan wore a diamond-encrusted headscarf, black supreme trainers, and a full winter coat as she faced the judge. Half an hour into proceedings, she was joined in the cage by Abdul-Mutalib Ramadan; a man in his mid-20s dressed in a faded yellow tracksuit and sandals. Brought by armed security guards bearing rifles, he was apparently called for his involvement in a WhatsApp group chat, and did not appear to have representation.
Little under two hours later, the judge found reason - for the second time - to postpone the hearing, extending Berivan’s detention yet again.
On February 14, Berivan’s trial was delayed before the court could sit; according to her lawyer, Bashdar Hassan, because the judge’s son was in a car accident. On Monday, the session was adjourned at around 11.35 am local time after the judge deemed there wasn’t enough time to cover the case, lamenting the lengthy reports being read out.
A new date for Berivan’s trial has not yet been announced. Following the adjournment, one of the parliamentarians in attendance told Rudaw English that they believed repeated delays were a tactic to reduce interest in the case.
CPT member Kamaran Osman said, “CPT is concerned that she was imprisoned for more than 16 months without a trial and was not allowed to meet with her lawyers for over a year."
"Additionally, we are concerned that the defence lawyers representing Berivan were not allowed to see any contents of the case until just before the trial," Osman added. Dozens of activists, mainly from Duhok, remain behind bars in Erbil.
Last week, a decree issued by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani reduced the sentence of five Badinan activists and journalists by 60 percent, having been put on trial in February 2021 for “endangering the national security of the Kurdistan Region” following their involvement in the 2020 Dohuk protests. They were found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison, with the appeal court upholding the ruling that summer, saying the men had intended to “target sensitive areas and establishments in the Kurdistan Region.”
The prison sentences of Sherwan Sherwani, Guhdar Zebari, Eyaz Karam, Hariwan Essa, and Shvan Saeed, therefore, has been reduced from 6 years to 2 years and 3 months.
On Thursday, CPT held a press conference on these developments, expressing their concern that the presidency order only reduced the sentence of some Badinan prisoners, not a further ten who have been imprisoned without trial, and also that the decree did not drop the charges against those yet to be tried, repeating their request for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and judiciary to drop all charges against Badinan prisoners and release them immediately.
The KRG has come under fire for the prosecution of the Duhok detainees. European diplomats in June said they were concerned that “basic fair trial standards have not been respected.”
In December, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a report on the state of human rights and freedom of expression over a number of trials in the Kurdistan Region.
While the report noted "concrete steps" that have been taken in recent months by the Kurdish authorities "toward the protection of the right to freedom of expression," its findings were rebuked by the KRG’s international advocacy office, stating that it does not accurately portray “the situation in Kurdistan.”
Erbil has defended the trials, arguing that the courts are independent and that it has requested assistance from the UN and foreign missions to strengthen the legal system and train judges.
