Lalazar trial set for Thursday, more than a year after the deadly raid

SULAYMANIYAH — People’s Front leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi, his brother Polad and 12 others are due to stand trial on Thursday over the Lalazar case, 377 days after the raid that produced it and nearly four months after the last hearing.

Fourteen defendants are listed before Sulaymaniyah Criminal Court No. 2, said Dana Taqiyaddin, spokesperson for the defence team, which has been asking since 2025 for the proceedings to be moved to Erbil without an answer.

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan president Bafel Talabani and his brother Qubad Talabani are the complainants, accusing Sheikh Jangi of attempted murder and creating unrest. Neither has attended a hearing. The trial opened on May 7 and was adjourned the same day, partly because the complainants did not appear and partly because of the volume of documents, Taqiyaddin said. A session a week later heard one witness before adjourning again, with neither Talabani present and the defence asking that both be summoned for questioning. A third hearing set for June 3 did not take place.

The case stems from Aug. 22, 2025, when security forces surrounded the Lalazar area of Sulaymaniyah where Sheikh Jangi and associates were staying. He refused to surrender and forces stormed the location after hours of clashes that killed at least five people and wounded more than 20. Three days later, PUK-linked media broadcast a recording in which people described a plan to kill Bafel Talabani and said Sheikh Jangi and security figure Azhi Amin had ordered it. Authorities linked the alleged plot to Sheikh Jangi, Polad, Amin and Haji Ghali. His family and the defence called the recording a script prepared to give the operation political and legal cover.

A first hearing on Jan. 12 saw the judge read the charges before granting a defence motion and suspending proceedings so the file could go to the Court of Cassation, covering Sheikh Jangi, Polad, Haji Ghali and nine others. The next day, Sulaymaniyah security released 17 people detained at Lalazar, saying there was not enough evidence to hold them.

Sheikh Jangi is a nephew of Jalal Talabani, the PUK’s founder and Iraq’s former president, and built his standing in the party’s security wing, first at the Counter Terrorism Group and then at the Zanyari intelligence agency. He and his cousin Bafel Talabani were made co-presidents of the PUK in February 2020 before he was pushed out in 2021, after which he formed the People’s Front.