Assistant judge risks double prosecution

In 2017, the Union of Judges filed multiple lawsuits against Hatsyar Wshyar for “using unseemly phrases on his private social media accounts targeting certain individuals” under article 236 of the penal code. He frequently published posts on his social media accounts, criticizing the justice system in Sulaymaniya and what he saw as corrupt practices in the courthouse. He was detained for 50 days and sentenced to four months in prison, during which time he was dismissed from his position. He was released in January 2018 and pursued legal action against the courthouse for firing him.

On 24 November 2019, the Asayish forces arbitrarily arrested him during his court hearing, searched his family home, taking official documents related to his case, his mobile phone and laptop. Hatsyar Wshyar remained in solitary confinement with the Asayish for seven days, where he was reportedly blindfolded and tortured. He was transported directly by the Asayish to face a closed hearing on 2 December 2019, where he was sentenced to one year in prison for “misuse of electronics” under article two of the penal code after he was denied access to his own lawyer and appointed a court lawyer instead and was not allowed to speak. He remained on hunger strike for more than two months after his sentencing, during which his health significantly deteriorated.

After serving his sentence on 2 December 2020, Hatsyar Wshyar was not released, and was transferred to the custody of Asayish Sulaymaniyah. Since then, he was only able to call his family three times, each time lasting less than one minute, and was only able to see his lawyer once with Asayish forces present, and was thus not able to inform his lawyer of his conditions. By 2 March 2021, the lawyer still did not have access to the case file against Hatsyar Wshyar.