Rezger Raza Chouchani (m), aged 31, journalist
Journalist Rezgar Raza Chouchani has not been seen since 3 June, when he was summoned to the headquarters of the Zeravani intelligence agency in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan. He had written about corruption in the agency, and its officials had apparently threatened him.
The Zeravani intelligence agency is part of the Peshmergas, who provide security in Iraqi Kurdistan for the ruling Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). They summoned Rezgar Raza Chouchani to their offices in the town of Masief Salah al-Din, just outside Erbil, on 3 June. His brother went with him; the Zeravani officials told him to leave, and said that Rezgar Raza Chouchani would be fine. No one has seen or heard from Rezgar Raza Chouchani since then.
Rezgar Raza Chouchani wrote for a magazine owned by Zeravani, the Zeravani Kurdistan until mid-May, when he resigned to write for the newspaper Berzan and also became the editor of a website called Horakurd. According to other journalists he has published several articles critical of corruption in the KDP administration, including the Zeravani intelligence agency. He has apparently received threats from Zeravani officials telling him to stop writing about this.
Opponents of the authorities in the Kurdish region of Iraq are routinely arrested and sometimes tortured. Journalists are at particular risk.
Journalist Mohammad Siyassi Ashkani was arrested in January 2007 and held him without charge for almost six months. He spent the first 55 days in solitary confinement. He was then allowed weekly family visits, but never had access to a lawyer.
Former prisoners have reported being tortured by methods including beatings, electric shocks to various parts of the body and falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet).
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Arabic, Kurdish, English or your own language:
expressing concern that journalist Rezgar Raza Chouchani has not been seen since 3 June, when he went to the headquarters of Zeravani, where he had been summoned;
IMPORTANT: please send appeals to these ministers via the KRG offices overseas. You can also target them directly where contact information is provided.
Prime Minister
Nechirvan Idris Barzani
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister for the Interior
Osman Hajy Mohamood
Email: interior_minister_sul@yahoo.com
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Justice
Farooq Jamil Sadiq
Email: dad@mojkurdistan.com
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister for Peshmerga Affairs
Omar Osman Ibrahim
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Human Rights
Dr Yousif M. Aziz
KRG
Vertretung der Regionalregierung-Kurdistan Irak in Deutschland
P.O. Box 150 101
D-10633 Berlin, Germany
Fax: (00 49) 30 7974 8492
Email: germany@rp.krg.org
Salutation: Your Excellency
KRG Mission to the European Union
rue de la loi 221
1040 Brussels, BELGIUM
Fax: (00 32) 2 513 36 79
Email: eu@rp.krg.org
Salutation:Your Excellency
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 18 July 2008.
