journalist Suleiman Ahmed incommunicado for 213 days
Sulaiman Ahmad, a Syrian Kurdish journalist arrested in Duhok, was finally allowed to meet with his defense team after 210 days of arrest. This marked the first time his lawyers were able to see him in person during the seven months since his arrest.
According to Article 23 of the Basic Law of Criminal Justice, every accused individual has the right to appoint a lawyer for legal advice after 24 hours, regardless of the charges against them, whether before or during the investigation. However, the security forces had denied Sulaiman Ahmad this right for the past 210 days.
Sulaiman Ahmad, was residing legally in Sulaimani for for years and working in the Arabic section of Rojnews website. He was arrested on October 25, 2023, while returning to the Kurdistan Region from Northeast Syria at the Fishkhabur (Semelka) border crossing. A week later, on October 31, the Duhok security forces released a statement claiming they had “arrested a PKK cadre who was traveling for the PKK for secret and illegal work” and that “he has confessed to his actions during the investigation, so he will be brought to court and dealt with according to the law.” However, they did not specify the legal article under which Sulaiman Ahmad was arrested.
