Sulaimani, September 30th, 2025: Alliance Network 19 condemns the violence against Shaswar Abdulwahid Qadir, the leader of the New Generation Movement, and calls on the International Red Cross and the High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq to visit him as soon as possible to ask about his health.
At 7am on Sunday, September 28th, 2025, without any prior notice to his lawyers, Shaswar Abdulwahid was transferred to the Sulaimani Court in handcuffs.
Rebwar Abdulrahman, a member of the House of Representative of Iraq on the list of New Generation told Network 19 that an armed PUK force of about 50 people treated Shaswar Abdulwahid inappropriately when he was taken to the Sulaimani court.
"Yes, he was treated severely and was tortured. When he was placed in handcuffs, he was pulled by them and sustained injuries.” Rebwar said.
The New Generation Movement issued a statement on the incident and called on all foreign embassies, and those who care about defending democracy in the Kurdistan Region, to take this case seriously. They also demanded that all cases against Shaswar Abdulwahid be transferred to the courts in Baghdad.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly states that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person, and that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The leader of New Generation did not resist the police forces or try to escape; he didn’t even carry any weapons that required him to be stopped by force.
Network 19 is with respecting the authority of the court, the judge and all those present in the courtroom. If an accused has a behavior or an expression that is interpreted as disrespectful to the court, there are warning measures, or expulsion from the courtroom, or any other legal measures that can be taken before thinking about using force and harassment of the accused.
Alliance Network 19 condemns the violence against Shaswar Abdulwahid, the leader of the New Generation Movement, for criticizing the government, and calls on the International Red Cross and the High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq to visit him as soon as possible.
Network 19 was established by a group of human rights organizations and is supervised by Metro Center. It upholds the principles of the UDHR and other international instruments on rights and freedoms, especially Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.