Kurdish journalist Sherwan Amin Sherwani has been held in solitary confinement since October 7 for, “politically motivated charges.” Sherwani who is a editor in-chief-for monthly magazine company Bashur, was arrested in his home in Serbiran, a village just outside the city of Erbil on October 7. Sherwani was critical of the authorities in the Kurdish region in northern Iraq on social media, specifically the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). He called out the Kurdistan Regional Government for abusing human rights, restricting the civil liberties, freedom of expression, and freedom of media. The lawyer for Sherwani said that Sherwanis psychological state is deteriorating after being held in solitary confinement for more than 50 days. Reports say that Sherwanis imprisonment is more political rather than legal because of his writings about the corruption of the Kurdistan region authorities’. If convicted, Sherwani faces 5 years to life in prison. The Rights and Freedoms Advocacy Committee, an NGO accused the government of arresting 280 people back in August for demanding civil servants’ salaries be paid. Among those arrested were teachers, civil servants, journalists, and human rights activists, they have been prone to physical and psychological torture as well. Sherwanis wife stated that their son was traumatized after seeing their father being taken away forcefully by police. Sherwin should have been freed on bail according to the region’s code for regulating journalism.
After seeing a country who is allies with the United States strip away someone’s freedoms that the United States rejoices in is saddening. It shows how someones actions even though they may destroy a countries reputation can be detrimental to them personally. Its also saddening that while a person may have the right to free speech in America, they do not get that luxury in other parts of the world and that shows how powerful a government can be to hide the bad media. This can affect surrounding regions by influencing other journalists to be cautious in what they say and not publish things that seek to out their government. While we do not know what will happen to Sherwani, he and the others who were arrested for peacefully protesting to get paid are showing the rest of the world the real side of their government.
From a realist perspective is shows that the Kurdish region authorities possess all the power in that region and if anyone were to exploit their wrong doings, they could face serious punishment. The Kurdish region is made up of several parts of multiple countries including Turkey, Northern Iraq, Northwest Iran, and Northern Syria. With the different spheres of influences of the different countries involved in making up Kurdistan, it shows how some countries actions in their governmental system carry over to others.