Thresholds of Control: The Architecture of Suppression in the Kurdistan Region

One bullet echoes—not guilt,
but fear holds the breath.
Silence multiplies.

I. Introduction: A Shot, a Silence, a Pattern
On the evening of September 2, 2025, journalist and activist Hemin Mamand was shot twice on Aqari Quarter in the heart of Sulaymaniyah. He remains hospitalized. No group claimed responsibility. No arrests or official condemnations have followed.

But he is not the first—and he will not be the last.

This attack is part of a deliberate architecture of suppression, where dissent is erased rather than debated. Once considered a democratic exception, the Kurdistan Region is now sliding toward the authoritarian patterns found in Turkey, Iran, and Syria—where tribal loyalty, legal manipulation, and unclaimed violence converge to silence the people.

II. The Pact of Silence: Recent Cases
A quiet choreography has emerged between the region’s dominant parties—the PUK and KDP. Historically rivals, they now align in silencing dissent.

Shaswar Abdul-Wahid, leader of the New Generation Movement, was sentenced to six months under Article 431 for verbal threats—following a wave of over 70 politically motivated complaints.

Sherwan Sherwani, investigative journalist and editor of Ashur, imprisoned since 2020 on charges of “destabilising security,” had his sentence extended by over four years on uncorroborated testimony.

Lahur Sheikh Jangi, former PUK co-leader, was arrested in a militarized raid on the Lalazar Hotel—five people killed, dozens wounded—in a counterinsurgency-style operation, not law enforcement.

Teachers, activists, and protesters have been detained, barred from entering Erbil, or hospitalised after hunger strikes.

Jawa Rawan Mahmoud, journalist, was detained multiple times while covering protests.

These events follow a distinct pattern—not formal declarations, but orchestrated acts of timing, targeting, and tone. The implicit message: dissent will be reshaped, silenced, or erased.

III. A Historical Ledger: Suppression Since 1992
Suppression is not new—it is a historic continuum stretching back to the emergence of autonomous rule.

Imprisonments and Legal Repression
Sherwan Sherwani (2020–2025): Six-year sentence, later extended by over four years.

Shaswar Abdul-Wahid (2025): Six months under Article 431.

Kamal Sayid Qadir (2005): Academic imprisoned for criticizing the KDP.

Journalists and protesters (2025): Detained during protests; some hospitalized, others blocked from Erbil.

Omed Baroshky received a 6-month sentence in 2025 for defamation.
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Sulaiman Mohammed Ahmad, Syrian Kurdish journalist, faced enforced disappearance and a three-year sentence for alleged espionage in 2024.

Assassinations and Violence
Hemin Mamand (2025): Gunshot attack remains unresolved.
Sardasht Osman (2010): Journalist critical of the PUK/KDP abducted and murdered; case remains unsolved.

Kawa Garmeyani (2013): Investigative journalist assassinated after exposing corruption; high-level suspects implicated.

Wedad Hussein Ali (2016): Journalist abducted and found dead; KRG forced again named as suspects.

Nalia TV attack (2008/2010): Station set ablaze, owner received assassination threats.

Walid Yunis Ahmad: Detained without trial for over 11 years; later convicted on fabricated charges.

Early Years (1990s–2000s)
Amnesty International documented numerous unlawful killings, torture, and disappearances of activists and opponents during the nascent years of Kurdish self-rule.

IV. The Threshold: Consequences of Silence
When a society loses its voice—when truth is punished and silence rewarded—it drifts into a liminal space where memory falters and fear governs. From that limbo, violence emerges—not as rebellion—but as inevitability.

The Kurdistan Region now teeters at that threshold. The systematic silencing of journalists, the manipulation of law, and the tribal consolidation of power are transforming democracy into performance, justice into ritual.

Hemin Mamand was shot not for acts he committed, but for words he might yet utter. In the silence that followed, the city recalled every voice already lost.

V. Closing Invocation: Inscribe, Not Erase
Let this article be more than a record—let it be a reckoning.

Let Hemin Mamand’s name be inscribed not as a footnote, but as a threshold. Let every silenced voice echo in the Archive, reminding us of the price of forgetfulness.

And to those who still speak: remember that silence is not safety—it is surrender.