[amc] Fw: Fwd: Fw: Stop the Whipping in Sulaimaniah

From: laura and garland <lauralarue@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: austin mennonite church <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:07:14 -0500 (GMT-05:00)

Friends....this is a note sent out by the CPT team about the recent violence in the area Garland is serving. The CPT member that was arrested was yes, you guessed it, our very own Garland. He says he "interfaced with the security forces, was interrupted in his filming of the event on 4 different occasions, but the exchange was professional, even courteous. Garland always greets them first and they are quick to respond in a positive way. Whenever they learned that he was working with human rights and was international, they released him on all occasions. Once he was in the police truck before they realized who he was and were quick to let him out. One of the members of the local NGO organization was there and helped explain his presence."

He says "there is nothing to worry about. They want to be visible and let the security know they are watching what was going on. So far, it has worked well for them."

He further told me that about 20 people were arrested and some beaten with plastic batons, but that was the extent of the violence. The CPT team interviewed a young man who was taken behind the curtain and whipped 5-6 times with the baton then told to leave and not return. He came back and talked with Garland's group about his experience.

Garland was going to the provincial capitol to request meetings to see if they will be allowed to return to the village. He's still trying to get out there.

Thanks for your continued prayers....

Laura

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: CPT Iraq
Sent: Jul 16, 2011 10:54 PM
To: lauralarue@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Stop the Whipping in Sulaimaniah

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CPT Iraq
Date: Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 1:26 PM
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Stop the Whipping in Sulaimaniah
To: "Malecha, Peter K (Erbil)"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: wadi e.v.-Iraq
Date: Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 6:51 AM
Subject: Fw: Stop the Whipping in Sulaimaniah
To: CPT Iraq

Dear Friends ,
Yesterday the situation in sulaimanyah was very terrible , some youngster's
decided to demonstrate but the government reacted in a very wrong way ,
attached we send you a petition from our Federation of civil society
according to our observation for this situation :

*Stop the Whipping in Sulaimaniah*

Following the call for a demonstration at 5 pm on July 15th 2011, scores of
various types of military, security, militia and polices forces were
stationed at the heart of the city of Sulaimaniah. The center of the city
was literally occupied by those forces, which without any legal, ethical or
moral restraints, attacked people and established special locations for
whipping activists and ordinary citizens.

The behaviors witnessed today, were not different from those committed by
the military forces of the Baath regime and are contrary to the internal and
international laws and regulations. They are even contradictory to the law
of demonstration in Kurdistan region. A member of the Federation of Civil
Society Organizations was observing the developments closely and he
witnessed the arrest and torture of (Rehman Gharib) the director of Metro
Center to Defend Journalists. He was taken to an unknown place by the
security forces at the time that a member of our federation was threatened
by a person from the security forces. When requesting an explanation for
these inhumane behaviors the response was that "we are coming from the
villages and will not show the slightest degree of mercy". This response in
itself intentionally defames the village dwellers and discredits the
security forces.

The security forces established and official whipping location and hid it by
a blue veil. The location was between the famous "People" café and
"Suliamaniah" library. A person passing by could easily hear the sounds of
slapping, kicking, and crying of people being tortured. Scores of security
forces wearing civilian clothes were seen, arresting people and taking them
to that narrow alley were the torture was underway. We overheard a young
policeman who was advising the youth not to get into trouble, because if
they were arrested, they would be killed by the security forces.

Journalists were not allowed to cover the incident. A number of journalists
and many ordinary citizens, who were recording the developments using their
cell phones, were arrested. A member of the Christian Peacekeeping Teams was
arrested, to be released later by the police.

All of these violations are against the law and basic principles of human
right. We in the Federation of Civil Society Organizations strongly condemn
these behaviors and call on the government and parliament of Kurdistan to
conduct an urgent investigation into these worrying developments. The
authority which was torturing people on the streets of Sulaimaniah was not,
to us, a national Kurdish authority, but one which is plagued with a
hysterical fear of its own people. At the time that we express our extreme
worrisome, we call on the Public Prosecution, to sue the heads of the
security, police and the militia force stationed in the city in order to
decrease the possibility of similar incidents in the future.

* *

*The Federation of Civil Society Organizations*

*15 NGO and a group of activist in Sulaimanyah *

*15/07/2011***

Falah Moradkhin
Iraq project coordinator -WADI Organization
Iraq Office
Tel: 00964 7701588173
www.wadi-online.de /
www.stopfgmkurdistan.org

[amc] Fw: Fwd: Fw: Stop the Whipping in Sulaimaniah

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