SULIAMANI, Kurdistan Region — At least 80 New Generation volunteers including two of the party’s High Council members have been detained by Asayesh (Security) in Sulaimani outside of a courthouse, NRT has reported.
New Generation leader Shaswar Abdulwahid appeared in court in Sulaimani on Sunday after being summoned on alleged charges of defamation and insulting a state employee. Abdulwahid was arrested after he testified to the court, according to NRT.
The heads of New Generation’s communications media offices, Aram Saeed and Rebwar Abdulrahman, resepectively, were among those detained.
New Generation has blamed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for the "politically motivated arrest warrant."
A court spokesperson told Rudaw that Abdulwahid was detained on charges of violation Iraqi Penal Code Article 229 that deals with assault on state employees while on duty and Article 434 that concerns defamation.
"There is no doubt that the courts in Kurdistan Region are under tremendous political pressure and the ruling parties are exploiting judicial system for political purpose," read a statement from New Generation released on Sunday.
On Sunday, Abdulwahid was being held at Salam Base’s prison in Sulaimani initially for 24 hours.
"We strongly condemn undermining rule of law and politicizing the legal cases against rival opposition parties. Thus, we demand federal judicial institutions to intervene immediately and guarantee Mr. Abdulwahid’s freedom," added the New Generation statement.
New Generation had hoped Abdulwahid would be released on Monday. It is not clear of Abdulwahid's status.
Abdulwahid is schedueld to speak at an event organized by the Centre for Kurdish Progress at the Wilson Room at the British parliament on Tuesday.
Abdulwahid founded Nalia Media Group that owns NRT. After forming New Generation in 2018 prior to the Iraqi parliamentary election, he said he no longer runs the media organization.
New Generation is an upstart political party in the Kurdistan Region and in Iraq. It won eight seats in the Kurdistan Region's parliamentary election on September 30 in the 111-seat legislature.