Sherwan Sherwani

Background and Work

Sherwan Sherwani is a Kurdish journalist and human rights defender from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He served as chief editor of Ashur magazine and was an active member of 17 Shubat, a human rights organisation operating in the region. His journalism focused on two areas that brought him into direct conflict with authorities: corruption within the Kurdistan Regional Government and the treatment of prisoners held by Asayish, the Kurdish internal security forces and primary intelligence agency in the region.

Sherwani regularly participated in peaceful demonstrations advocating for social and political rights. His work and activism took place during a period of growing public dissent over governance failures and alleged corruption in the Kurdistan Regional Government, protests that intensified in 2020.

Arrest and Initial Detention

Sherwan Sherwani was arrested in 2020 as part of a broader crackdown on freedom of expression in the Kurdistan Region. The arrests targeted journalists, activists, and human rights defenders who had been involved in or reported on protests against government corruption. He was detained alongside four others—Guhdar Zebari, Hariwan Issa, Eyaz Karam, and Shivan Saeed—who collectively became known as the Badinan Five.

On 16 February 2021, the Criminal Court of Erbil convicted all five defendants of threatening national security and sentenced them each to six years in prison. The trial lasted only two days and was marked by serious violations of basic international fair trial standards. Sherwan Sherwani and his co-defendants told the court that their confessions had been extracted under torture. The court dismissed those statements without investigation. On 28 April 2021, the Appeal Court of Erbil confirmed the six-year sentence.

Sentence Reduction and Impending Release

In February 2022, the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, issued a decree reducing Sherwan Sherwani's sentence by half, from six years to three years. With time already served, his release was scheduled for 9 September 2023.

Additional Conviction Two Months Before Release

On 20 July 2023, two months before his scheduled release, the Criminal Court of Erbil sentenced Sherwan Sherwani to an additional four years in prison. The charge related to a document submitted to prison authorities on 28 August 2022. That document retracted a previously filed request for conditional release by Sherwan Sherwani and the other Badinan prisoners.

Prosecutors accused Sherwan Sherwani of forging the signatures of the other four Badinan defendants on that document. During the trial, the other prisoners testified explicitly that they had given one another permission to sign on each other's behalf. The court convicted him nonetheless. It applied Articles 295 and 298 of the Iraqi Penal Code—provisions relating to forgery and falsification of documents—sentencing him to two and a half years under one article and one and a half years under the other, for a total of four additional years.

Community Peacemaker Teams – Iraqi Kurdistan documented multiple violations of fair trial guarantees in the proceedings and noted the lack of evidence supporting the application of those penal code articles. The organisation emphasised that the case was not isolated but part of a broader pattern of judicial harassment.

Current Status

Sherwan Sherwani remains in prison in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The additional four-year sentence effectively extended his imprisonment from three years to seven years total. His journalism on corruption and prisoners' rights, his participation in peaceful protests, and his membership in a human rights organisation have resulted in prolonged detention under charges that violate international standards of due process and freedom of expression.