Support Freedom of Expression in Kurdistan

To: Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Community.



Every one of us knows well that the fundamental milestone for development of any nation in our world depends of some factors, among these factors and most important of all of them is Freedom of Expression.

We all know how much Kurdish nation suffered throughout history, till now Kurdish nation is suffering in majority of Kurdistan, occupied by Middle Eastern countries, though, we know that Kurdish nation is one of the largest ethnic group inhabited along with other nations in this region, if not before them, yet they are, till current time, stateless nation. Kurds are the largest ethnic group without any state in our world.

After Gulf War and ruining of Soviet Union, something happened in the region, and Kurds from Iraq got some form of autonomous self-ruling in North of Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, but for more than one decade we still lack many fundamentals for making a new, democratic, stabilized, modern community, where everyone will have his/her own rights and responsibilities, the most importantly lack of Freedom of Expression.

Here in this portion of world, Iraqi Kurdistan, the journalist and citizens dont have any right to criticize or comment over any of their officials, they cant write, talk or work freely and independently. The main two parties are sponsoring any and every thing in this region.

We were very happy with Saddam Husseins fall, but unfortunately we got more than one Saddam here, now the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the two main political parties, running by so-called leaders, looting and stealing the most valuable thing in human life, Freedom of Expression, of this poor nation.


Sadly, the price that free man should pay, the tax that you should pay when you try to raise your voice, when you report on the responsible people here in South Kurdistan, the most stable and secure portion of newly Iraq, is your life.

The most prominent figure and the last one was late Soran Mama Hama. Soran Mama Hama, was a young 23 years old journalist, wrote articles for one of the Kurdish language Sulaimaniyah based independent magazine here in Kurdistan "Livin" who have been assassinated by unknown armed men, in Kirkuk on 22nd of this month, after publishing some articles, which seems to be against some officials in this region.

This is not the first assassination to utter the free voice, and will not the last one for sure, but lets try our best to put an end to it.

We the undersigned, call on officials in KRG and International Community to support our struggle to defend the basic rights of people in Kurdistan, most importantly the Freedom of Expression.