Süleyman Ahmet, editor of Rojnews, was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday after being held for 279 days by forces linked to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
Ahmet was held incommunicado for almost a year and his lawyers were not able to contact him until 211 days after his arrest. He was charged under Article 1 of the KRI’s Law No. 21 of 2003, which has been used to imprison numerous other journalists.
Journalists’ organisations and Ahmet’s legal team have criticised his detention and conviction as unlawful. Jasana, a media and freedom of expression organisation, issued a written statement condemning the Duhok court’s decision. The statement stressed that Ahmet had not been sentenced in accordance with journalistic laws, claiming: ‘We condemn the Duhok Court’s unlawful verdict against journalist Suleyman Ahmet and see it as part of ongoing efforts to stifle press freedom’. Jasana also linked the arrest of journalists to reporting on Turkey’s ongoing military operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
The Independent Federation of Journalists and Writers (RONUS) also condemned the verdict, saying it was politically motivated. In a written statement, RONUS claimed that Ahmet’s imprisonment was part of a wider pattern of journalists being detained on charges of ‘endangering regional security and espionage’. The organisation called on foreign embassies and consulates to exert pressure for the Duhok court’s decision to be reviewed and overturned.
Speaking to Rojnews, Ahmet’s lawyer, Neriman Ahmet, highlighted the procedural violations during the trial. “Journalist Suleyman Ahmet should have been judged according to the journalism law, but the court sentenced him under Article 21, accusing him of being a member of the PYD, and gave him a three-year prison sentence. The pressure during the trial was immense. We were not allowed to attend the trial until the final stages,” she said. Despite the testimony of two witnesses who confirmed Ahmet’s four-year journalistic career, the court convicted him of espionage.
Suleyman Ahmet, editor of the Arabic service of Rojnews, was visiting his family in the Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo on 1 October 2023. On 25 October 2023, he was abducted by KDP forces at the Peş Xabûr (Sêmalka) crossing. The first contact with Ahmet was on 22 May 2024
