Word: barzanis
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...lack of protection for free speech and the politicization of the security services and judiciary in Kurdistan were made apparent by the case of Dr. Kamal Said Qadir, a jailed law professor and journalist. Dr. Kamal, who is also an Austrian citizen, criticized Masoud Barzani, who is both the President of Iraqi Kurdistan and the head of the KDP, and other members of the Barzani family, calling them "traitors to the Kurdish issue" in articles published on an opposition website run by Kurdish expatriates. When Dr. Kamal returned to Erbil last October, he was arrested and tried in secret...
...Kamal's sentence is likely to be drastically reduced after appeal. In an interview, Barzani to TIME that the laws under which he was charged need to be changed. Says Barzani: "Although he has been very aggressive and libelous against me personally I have forgiven him personally for what he has written about me and ask other people whom he has been writing against to forgive him as well." Still, the treatment given to Dr. Kamal sent a clear signal to journalists and government critics. "There are red lines that you cannot cross," said Saman Fawzi Omer, a professor...
...there are signs of a movement from within the parties to reign in the excesses created by the two-party dominance. In January, the Kurdish parliament announced plans to merge the two administrations. Barzani told TIME that one of the driving forces in merging the administrations was to prevent abuses created by individuals within each party. "The aim was to have some constitutional institutions in the country so that the PUK and the KDP and together with the other parties could become civil society parties, so that law will be the ruler in this country, so that there will...
...Larijani: We are a regional power. But we are a noble regional force. Iraq is a Muslim neighboring country. We are natural allies. Stability, democracy and security in Iraq are definitely in our interest, too. When the Americans supported Saddam, all the present leaders were our guests, including Talabani, Barzani, Jafari, Hakim, and all those. The reason for our friendship now is that it goes back many years...
...concern to secure strong communal Shiite representation is mirrored among the Kurds, where the two major political parties, the longtime rival Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, have joined forces on the Kurdish Alliance list to ensure maximum representation of the Kurdish vote in the new assembly, of which they are expected to win the lion's share. The largest Sunni Party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, which had previously served in the interim government, has withdrawn from the election on the grounds that security conditions make voting impossible in most Sunni strongholds...