Amnesty International says critics of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are being arrested and charged with false charges.

Amnesty International has released its annual report on human rights violations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG) saying government critics who were ordered to be released remain in prison after authorities filed new false charges against them.

Regarding the case of journalists Sherwan Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari, it said that the two journalists were imprisoned since October 2020 after an unfair trial.

Zebari was informed on August 16 last year that he had been charged with another crime and remained in custody in an ordinary prison until his trial on October 1, when he was sentenced to another six months and was convicted of carrying an unlicensed weapon.

Sherwan Sherwan was scheduled to be released on September 9, but on July 20, the court sentenced him to another four years in prison for forging Guhdar Zebari's signature on an application to Erbil Correctional Prison, although Zebari confirmed his consent.