Six Lalazar defendants retract statements, saying they were taken under torture

SULAYMANIYAH — Six defendants in the Lalazar case withdrew their earlier statements in court on Thursday, telling the judge they had been obtained under torture and pressure, according to the head of Lahur Sheikh Jangi’s defence team.

The judge questioned the six again and recorded new statements, said Dana Taqiaddin, who told 964media that all 12 defendants appeared and that the proceedings followed proper legal procedure. Sheikh Jangi and his brother Polad were not among those questioned; Taqiaddin said their turn had not been reached under the court’s schedule.

The trial was adjourned without a date, with the defence expecting to hear on Sunday when it resumes. It was the fourth session, 377 days after the raid that produced the case.

The 12 are being tried under Article 56 of the penal code, which Taqiaddin described as covering an agreement to commit murder. Twenty-seven people detained over the Lalazar events remain in prison.

PUK 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. Taqiaddin said their absence and that of their lawyers was legally normal because they did not personally witness the events.

A first hearing on Jan. 12 saw the judge read the charges before suspending proceedings so the file could go to the Court of Cassation, and Sulaymaniyah security released 17 people held at Lalazar the next day for lack of evidence. The trial opened on May 7 and adjourned the same day, partly because the complainants did not appear and partly over the volume of documents. A session a week later heard one witness. A 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 site 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. His family and defence team said the recording was scripted to give the operation political and legal cover.

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