Kurdistan Region releases confessions of a ‘spy network’ in Duhok province

The five individuals sentenced in February to six years in prison by a court in Erbil on “espionage” charges. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
The five individuals sentenced in February to six years in prison by a court in Erbil on “espionage” charges. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Thursday released taped confessions of a group of five men convicted with espionage on behalf of foreign interests, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in what it says was a bid to destabilize the security of the autonomous region under the name of “journalism and civil activism.”

A video published by the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) showing the confessions of five individuals, all sentenced to six years in prison by a court in Erbil on “espionage” charges in February.

The group, according to the council, had “direct relations with the PKK and a number of foreign entities; intended “to destabilize the security” of the Kurdistan Region; and “collected intelligence on security forces, Peshmerga, and judges,” on behalf of those factions.

The individuals are residents of Duhok province, locally referred to in the area as Badinan.

The council said they all had undergone training within the Kurdistan Region in light firearms and “silenced guns.”

According to the statement, the nature of these individuals’ work had “no relationship” to journalism or activism but was instead part of a larger “plot and sabotage agenda.”

The PKK has been fighting an insurgency against Ankara over Kurdish rights in Turkey since the mid-1980s. It is designated as a terror group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

The group has been accused of being behind attacks on Kurdistan Region security forces in efforts to sabotage regional security.

In October 2020, the KRG said the PKK was behind the assassination of a top border crossing official in Duhok province while he was off duty.

During the same month, the KRSC announced that it had foiled a planned attack on “diplomatic missions and businesses” operating in the Kurdistan Region and arrested a number of people linked to the PKK.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly