Kurdish female MPs denounce blackmail attempt on fellow lawmaker
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Female lawmakers in the Kurdistan Region Parliament on Wednesday denounced the alleged attempted blackmail of one of their colleague, with explicit videos recorded without her consent in a bugged apartment.
In an extraordinary press briefing just outside the legislature’s building, Shadi Nawzad, a female MP with the newly-established New Generation Movement (NGM), came forward with her story, claiming followers of her party’s leader were behind the sordid act.
Recently, leading members of NGM have directed sharp criticism against the party’s founder and leader, wealthy businessman Shaswar Abdulwahid, for what they say is a culture of cronyism and favoritism that has engulfed their movement.
Nawzad was among half of the party’s lawmakers—which holds a total of 12 seats in the Iraqi and Kurdistan parliaments, eight being in the latter—who endorsed the rebuke of Abdulwahid.
“Await the release of your nude film,” Shadi Nawzad first claimed a message she received from an unknown mobile number read. She later sent a screenshot of the purported one-sided exchange that included two posts. The first was an almost three-minute-long video—which had been blurred by Nawzad—and the second was the threat itself. She also announced her plans to sue the party leader.
Read More: Kurdish MP claims attempt to blackmail her with indecent videos after criticism of her own party leader
In overwhelming support for their colleague, female lawmakers in the Kurdistan Region Parliament and the body’s human rights committee issued separate statements, calling for justice for Nawzad.
“We as parliamentarians, regardless of political and ideological beliefs and opinions, strongly condemn the threats and support Shadi Khan,” a statement signed by 17 MPs from the Kurdistan Region parliament released shortly after Nawzad’s initial briefing read. Thirty-six out of the legislature’s 111 seats are female.
“We hope these cowardly intimidations of women are put to an end,” the statement said, further calling on the region’s court to “punish all those people who threaten the progress of Kurdish women’s civil [rights] struggles.”
