Network 19: In the past two months (April and May 2025) in the cities of the Kurdistan Region, citizens organized (54) protests, demonstrations, rallies, (23) activities in April, (31) activities in May, three civil activities were prevented and two citizens were arrested.
The types of demands were as follows: In April, (6) activities for services, (6) activities for salaries, (2) activities against the genocide of the Kurdish people, (2) demonstrations in support of Gaza prevented, (7) various demands.
Location of activities in April, (13) activities in Sulaimani, (10) activities in Erbil.
Two notable cases of arrests for freedom of expression were recorded in Duhok and Sulaimani during the month:
• On Sunday, April 6th, 2025, when he visited the Passport Directorate of Akre, Duhok province, Islam Zebari was told that he had an arrest warrant. Ali Hama Salih, the leader of the Halwest Movement, released an audio recording of Islam Zebari, in which he said, "The issue is political, because they formed a committee of inquiry on the articles I publish on the Internet about corruption and partisanship in the Peshmerga Ministry, I didn't go to the committee and they issued an arrest warrant for me.”
• On April 9, security forces arrested Rebin Omar, a teacher and member of the Penjwen People's Rights Demonstration Committee, for calling for a rally in solidarity with Gaza. Without organizing the rally, the security forces went to the teachers' neighborhood and arrested Rebin Omar. Then they went to the houses of Hoshyar Namq and Miran Kamal for the same purpose, but they were not at home.
In May, 31 activities were organized, 7 activities for services, 4 activities for employment, 3 activities against the price of lighting projects, 3 activities for salaries, 2 activities for the rights of the disabled, 2 activities for workers' rights.
(1) Demonstrations in support of Omed Barushki were prevented. (9) Various demand activities.
Location of activities in May: (22) activities in Sulaimani, (5) in Erbil, (2) in Halabja, (2) in Duhok
On May 8, 2025, a rally was scheduled to be held in front of the Duhok court to protest against the court decision and the release of Omed Baroshki, but the rally was prevented by a security force.
On December 30th, 2025, Omed Baroshki was sentenced to six months in prison for a journalism case. His lawyers criticized the decision, saying his case had been politicized.
Demonstrations are a constitutional right and are regulated by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Law on Demonstrations, No. 11 of 2010. Any action taken contrary to this law is condemnable.