Six-Month Sentence for Omed Baroshki Enforced

London, 28 July 2025 – The KurdFile concern over the reactivation of a six-month prison sentence against journalist Omed Baroshki by the Duhok Court of Cassation. The Center reiterates its earlier call for the case to be handled under the applicable Press Law articles, not penal law.

Baroshki had posted on his Facebook page on 23 January 2024 about one of the Badinan detainees named Mullah Nazir, stating:

“Mullah Nazir was kidnapped by a security force in prison, but he has not returned from there, and his fate remains unknown.”

As a result of this post, prison authorities filed a legal complaint against Baroshki. After two court hearings, he was sentenced to six months in prison, with a suspended execution of the sentence, meaning the sentence was not immediately enforced.

However, Reving Yasin stated that:

“The sentence that had been suspended is now reactivated and enforced. The Duhok Court of Cassation has ruled to implement the six-month prison sentence.”

Baroshki was originally arrested on 18 August 2020, charged with “threatening national security.” He faced six separate cases and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was released on 22 February 2022, but since then has been banned from media work and has faced multiple short-term detentions, later released on bail.

KurdFile Editor Harki states that journalists are not free to express what they are supposed to. They work under constant fear of persecution, yet still consider it irresponsible to remain silent in a country where the leaders live in luxury while the people go hungry.