Freedom And Arrest

By Hilal Ibrahim

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting

(Hawlati April 26, 2006) The Kurdistan Democratic Solutions Party decided to pour into Sulaimaniyah's streets one day to protest Turkey's oppression of Kurds. I went to cover the event for Hawlati (newspaper.) A security officer approached me and told me (to leave) the protest. I told him that it was my right to be there and showed him my journalist's ID. But he grabbed my arm and dragged me toward a car, calling me names. The security forces outnumbered the demonstrators.

Four members of the security forces put me in a civilian car that they had seized using their guns. Before the car began moving a member of the security forces put his head inside of the car, spat in my face and called me several names. Two members of the security forces sat next to me in the car. One told me if I tried to escape he would shoot me with "a thousand bullets." They yelled at the driver to get us to the security office fast. When we arrived there, the security officer who had first arrested me punched me while we stood under a sign reading, "The hands, the mouths and the behaviour of security personnel must be clean."

For 15 years (Kurdish) officials have made claims of freedom of expression and democracy. What we see is not only that a person cannot freely demand his rights but his life is put in danger when he tries to do so. Under the pretext of preserving the (Kurdish) achievements they try to suppress any voice, which is why the officers told me, "You want to disturb our (democratic) experience." I just have one question: If our experience cannot handle a demonstration of forty people, how can it stand up to Turkey, Syria and Iran?