Arrests and detentions in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

That this House notes with concern reports by Amnesty International and others that authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have subjected numerous journalists, activists and protestors to arbitrary arrests and forceable disappearances in a series of crackdowns beginning in March 2020; understands that among those detained is Sherwan Ameen, who graduated from the University of Glasgow’s School of Education with a Master’s in Teaching Adults in 2015, and who was among a number of teachers arrested for protesting that they had not been paid; further understands that he had been held without charge for almost a year until 6 September when he was charged with High Treason, which carries the death penalty, and that a trial has been set for October 6; calls on the Foreign Secretary to urgently raise this case and the wider situation with counterparts in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq; and supports the calls of Amnesty International for an end to the crackdown on freedom of speech, the immediate release of all those who have been arbitrarily detained, and for the authorities to refrain from using vague and ill-defined laws to curtail the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the region.