Two-Year-Old Girl Held in Custody for Four Days

Sulaimaniyah security forces arrested on April 13 dozens of Democratic Solution Party of Kurdistan members who had planned to protest violence against Kurds in Turkey in downtown Sulaimaniyah. Fayak Gulpi, the head of the party, and a two-year-old girl, Lala Azad, were among those arrested. Azad was with her mother, who had gathered with other party members for the protest. The girl and her mother were released after four days. Gulpi, who was also freed, said 42 members of his party were arrested but only six had been released. "I only ask: 'What sympathy and understanding do the security forces have if they hold a two-year-old girl for four days?'" he said. The head of Sulaimaniyah security, Sarkawt Hassan, told Awene that a judge ordered the arrests of Gulpi and the others because they didn't have permission to demonstrate.