SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — An official close to the leader of the New Generation was arrested by security forces in Sulaimani on Thursday on charges of attempting to blackmail fellow leadership members.
The arrest was made following a complaint by Shadi Nawzad, a New Generation MP in the Kurdistan Region’s parliament.
"Last night, upon an order from the investigating judge following a lawsuit filed by a New Generation MP, the secretary of Shaswar Abdulwahid was arrested and his gadgets; mobile and computer suspected to contain pictures, videos and audio tapes used to threaten the party's MPs, were also confiscated," a police source from the Sulaimani, told Rudaw.
No name was provided for the person arrested.
Dosti Ahmed, a member of the New Generation, said “in the coming hours we will have a statement clarifying everything,” but they have nothing to add at this time.
The party has been shaken by a string of statements, counter-statements, and allegations this week, starting with Sarkawt Shamsulddin and Rabun Maroof on Monday.
They revealed their opposition to the path New Generation founder and President Shaswar Abdulrahman was taking, accusing him of drifting away from their ideals.
Measures taken by court and Sulaimani security came after internal party crises were exasperated on Wednesday when Nawzad said Abdulwahid and his supporters were blackmailing her and threatening to release nude videos of her if she did not stop her criticism of the party leadership.
“I received a text message a few hours before publishing the statement by the faction in the Kurdistan Region. Some other faction members have also received similar messages. In the text, there is a tampered video and some photos have been sent to me. It says: wait for the publication of your nude films too,” Nawzad said.
The New Generation media outlet NRT reported on Thursday morning that a group of New Generation “volunteers” were arrested.
New Generation was founded by Abdulwahid in 2018 ahead of Iraqi parliamentary elections. They won four seats in the the Iraqi election and eight in the Kurdistan Region's parliament election later last year.
This is a developing story…