Kurdish political prisoners demand equal rights
Shafaq News/ Kurdish political prisoners on Wednesday called on the Iraqi parliament to intervene and ensure their legal rights are upheld, demanding that their cases be transferred to the federal government's institution for political prisoners.
Speaking at a press conference, Osman Zindani, a member of the organization for the rights and freedom of political prisoners in the region, said that "political prisoners from all components, Kurds, Arabs, and other minorities, have suffered the same ordeal in detention at the hands of the same repressive entities."
Zindani emphasized that these prisoners are demanding equality with their counterparts in other parts of Iraq and the implementation of Law No. 4 of 2006, which guarantees the rights of political prisoners under the former regime.
"Article 132 of the Iraqi constitution guarantees the rights of political prisoners equally, but there is a disparity in implementation between the region and the rest of Iraq," he said. Zindani urged the parliament to activate the article to ensure that prisoners in Kurdistan receive the same privileges granted to their peers in central and southern Iraq.
Zindani noted that prisoners in Kurdistan feel that their demands have been ignored for years, despite their suffering being similar to that experienced by political prisoners in other parts of Iraq.
These demands come amid ongoing debate over the rights of political prisoners in the Kurdistan Region, with many former prisoners believing that there is a disparity in the application of laws related to them compared to what happens in the rest of Iraq.
Kurdish political prisoners have been facing delays in the implementation of certain privileges and rights enjoyed by their counterparts in central and southern Iraq, particularly those stipulated in Iraqi laws that guarantee their rights after the fall of the former regime.
