What is happening in the prisons under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)?!

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Shahoz Jalal Sidiq – SocioPolitical Activist

On Thursday, May 14, during the second hearing of the trial of Lahur Sheikh Jangi Talabani and the other detainees from Lalazar Hotel Incident at the Second Criminal Court of Sulaymaniyah, Hama Rash, a guard of Rebwar Hamid Haji Ghali, stated before the judge:

“The statements taken from him were obtained under torture. He also said that he was beaten at the time of his arrest, his head was broken, and he was stabbed in the back with a knife. Furthermore, he admitted that during torture he was he lost his manhood.”

Although during the Kurdish civil war between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), between 1994 to 1998 there were always individuals who became the protagonists of ugly, cruel, and inhumane stories involving the torture of each other’s prisoners, no one could have imagined that in the present era, a party claiming to be democratic, such as the PUK, would engage in such savage and brutal torture of a prisoner, thereby placing both its own reputation and that of the city of Sulaymaniyah under question.

The story of Hama Rash in Kani Goma Prison in Sulaymaniyah has caused us great disappointment. How can such events occur in a city like Sulaymaniyah and in prisons administered by the PUK, a party that presents itself as social democratic? What are we witnessing, and what is happening in the so-called capital of culture?

We believed that the disgraceful practices of the Ba’ath era had come to an end. We never imagined that under the authority of the executioners of a Kurdish party that claims to uphold democracy and freedom, we would hear of such shameful and terrifying incidents. It is unacceptable that, despite the existence of courts, laws, numerous international organizations, diplomats, and foreign representations, a prisoner from Sulaymaniyah could be treated in this manner. Although some ugly incidents in the past may have been overlooked, this event must not be ignored.

Even though human rights organizations in the Kurdistan Region may be unable or unwilling to speak out about such incidents because of the ruling parties, they nevertheless have a responsibility to bring this disgraceful act in Kani Goma Prison to the attention of international organizations and global media. This would increase pressure on the authorities of the Kurdistan Regional Government to punish those responsible for treating the accused in such a manner.

Although the primary individuals who allegedly ordered or permitted such torture in prisons under the authority of the PUK and the Green Zone are, in my view, within the leadership of that party itself, I also believe that the PUK, which describes itself as a social democratic party, has, because of this incident and several others that have occurred over the past two decades, demonstrated to the world that it is moving in a dangerous direction toward becoming a fascist party.