Democracy Kurdish style

A Kurdish writer was thrown into prison for 30 years in a court in Kurdistan just 4 days after the Iraqi elections for swearing at the President of Kurdistan Massoud Barzani.

Kurdish media networks are approaching the case nervously and some are even scared to report about the news. Some newspapers haven't even reported about this anti-democracy and human rights decision.

The writer's name is (Dr. Kamal Saeed Qadir) and he was put in prison for 2 articles he wrote against the KDP.
KDP's tribal mentality are not fit for today's democratic life.

The Kurdish news websites regularly report about this issue but the English ones are a bit quiet. KurdistanObserver are still yet to report about the news while KurdishMedia have published one or two letters. Kurdistani News have published several news but have stopped since after.

Some reports about the new freedom and democracy in Kurdistan :

Dr. Rebwar Fatah: Dr. Kamal’s sentence is against the principles of human rights in Kurdistan
KRG Human Rights Minister: Dr. Kamal is an Iraqi citizen before being an Austrian
Dr Kamal Sayd Qadir describes Erbil court as “illegitimate” and calls for retrial
Dr. Kamal Sayd Qadir’s sister calls on Kurdish intellectuals for help
Erbil court sentences Dr. Kamal Sayd Qadir for 30 years in prison
Dr Kamal Said Qadir: Don’t let Kurds put their hands in my blood
KRG Human Rights Minister: Dr. Kamal Sayd Qadir must rot in prison
Article: Will Iraqi Kurdistan teach Turkey about freedom of speech?
Amnesty International Starts Official Public Campaign on behalf of Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir
Writer detained for articles critical of Kurdish authorities
Barzani’s KDP tortures Kurdish Austrian writer – Kurdish website
Kurdistan regional government admits “abducting” Kurdish writer
Barzani-critic arrested by KDP in Hewler – KurdistanPost

The best thing we can do is zip our lips otherwise we will be also put into prison for swearing AKA criticising the Kurdistan government.

Iraqi Elections in Kurdistan :

Because of the nature of my work, I could not report about the elections on the day. I have collected photos, reports, interviews, and results in this post from different forums and news websites as well as blogs.
I would like to thank all these forums and blogs and websites.

Photos:
Election Photos 1
Election photos 2
Election Celeberation photos 3
Election photos 3 (protests by an Islamic Kurdish party)
Election Celeberations in Netherlands photos 4
Photos of Kurds participating in the Iraqi elections 15.12.2005
Photos of Kurds participating in the Iraqi elections 14.12.2005
Election photos 12.12.05
More Holland photos

Results:
The elementary results of the Iraqi elections in Kurdistan
Iraqi Vote Update from Global Voices (Delal)
Kurdistani Alliance sweeps 46% of London votes
Iraqi election: Kurdistan alliance list is on top of EU countries
Iraqis vote, celebrate near Washington, DC
About 95 percent of Kurdish Amedi took part in the election
Kurdistan President votes using Arabic ballet box
Kurds win in Kirkuk - Hiwa

Removable Ink ?!
I did not participate. But fraud and cheating was very wide across the whole of Iraq. My friend who works in Baghdad told me that he and his friends voted several times because the purple ink could be washed off with any cleaning liquid.
Another way to remove the ink was to dip your finger in oil (cooking oil, car oil etc) before entering the polling center, then washing your hands with soap was enough to get it off.

Lack of ballot papers across Iraq ?!!
One funny thing happened on the day is that we heard that ballot papers run out across Iraq. An election official came on a popular radio and said we have sent out ballot papers for every single voter to the polling stations. That is about 15 million ballot papers. How can they run out ?
Well they can. This is what happened. Every single party started to fill out papers by themselves.
A friend of mine went to vote..He is of the religious type and he wanted to vote for the Kurdistan Islamic Union. He is a funny guy he always makes jokes. This is how he told me about his experience:
"I went to vote at about 3.30 pm. A guy eating an apple and a few election officials (women and men) were dancing on the other side to some loud Kurdish dance music)...they told me voting is over...My friend told them "Look it is 3.30...voting is until 5.."...they told him "oh don't worry..we voted for you"..
My friend gets angry and shouts "Voted for me ?! Who told you to vote for me ?? They told him "We voted for you for 730..we will win..come and dance with us"..my friend (who does not look religious at all) told them I don't want to vote for 730..I want to vote for what I believe in...

the election officials become confused and they give him a ballot and let him vote...Later when he finishes, they ask him who did you vote for..He says that is private...they give him an apple and tell him not to tell anyone !!!

This happened all over Iraq. In Rumadi and other Sunni areas, tribal militiants were in charge of security and not the independent Iraqi army !!!

But despite all of these violations, it is not too bad...Better could be done in the future.

Iraqi Election!
It has been a quite day for Kurdistan...I will post a detailed description of events in the following hours.