Sulaymaniyah court sentences opposition leader Shaswar Abdulwahid to five months in prison

SULAYMANIYAH — A Sulaymaniyah court on Tuesday sentenced opposition leader Shaswar Abdulwahid, head of the New Generation Movement, to five months in prison in a defamation case brought by former lawmaker Shadia Nawzad.

The ruling, issued during Abdulwahid’s third court session, reduced a six-month sentence delivered in absentia on Aug. 3 to five months, which will now be enforced.

Abdulwahid, founder of NRT television and leader of New Generation, was arrested Aug. 12 at his home in Sulaymaniyah’s German Village neighborhood on a court-issued warrant.

The case stems from a 2019 lawsuit filed by Nawzad, then a New Generation MP, who accused him of running the party as a family enterprise and blackmailing members with intimate videos. She said she received images hours before issuing a critical statement against him. Nawzad later resigned from the party and joined the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The New Generation bloc called Tuesday’s verdict expected, criticizing what it described as a “masked force” raiding Abdulwahid’s home “in the middle of the night” without witnesses. It said the arrest had only increased his popularity.

“The arrest of Shaswar Abdulwahid makes him and the New Generation Movement more beloved among the people,” the statement read. “We will not retreat or be silenced.”

Abdulwahid’s trial had already been delayed twice. First on Aug. 21 and again on Aug. 28 when Nawzad was absent.

He remained in detention throughout. On Aug. 23, New Generation lawmakers expressed concern about his health and said they were denied visitation, though judiciary spokesperson Salah Hassan said he had no information on any deterioration.

The party also said it has finalized preparations for Iraq’s parliamentary elections on Nov. 11, expressing confidence that voters would “punish” the Kurdistan Region’s two ruling parties–the KDP and PUK.