Lalazar trial resumes Thursday, three weeks after Sheikh Jangi gave evidence

SULAYMANIYAH — The trial of People’s Front leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi and 11 others over the Lalazar confrontation resumes at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, its seventh session and 412 days after the raid, defence spokesperson Dana Taqiaddin told 964media.

No ruling has yet been issued. At the last session on Sept. 17, Sheikh Jangi gave evidence for the first time and denied trying to kill Bafel Talabani, and a commander loyal to him, Rebwar Hamid Haji Ghali, told the court he had seen Talabani through a sniper scope but had never been ordered to shoot. All 12 defendants have now testified. Six withdrew earlier statements on Sept. 3, telling the judge they had been obtained under torture, and Sheikh Jangi’s brother Polad said his statement was taken while he was unconscious from his injuries.

The 12 are tried under Article 56 of the penal code, which Taqiaddin describes as covering an agreement to commit murder. Bafel Talabani and his brother Qubad, the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister, are the complainants, and neither has attended a hearing.

Sheikh Jangi rose through the PUK’s security apparatus to become co-president alongside Bafel Talabani in 2020 before being pushed out in a power struggle in 2021. He founded the People’s Front, which won two seats in the 2024 Kurdistan parliamentary election, and used Lalazar as its base. Security forces surrounded the complex on Aug. 22, 2025, and stormed it after hours of fighting 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 on orders from Sheikh Jangi and security figure Azhi Amin. His family and defence said it was scripted to give the operation political and legal cover.