Hawlati and Awene Editors-in-Chief (Convicted)

Twana Osman, Hawlati editor-in-chief and Asos Hardi, former editor-in-chief (of the independent weekly newspaper) were sentenced to six months in prison (but their sentences were commuted) and fined 75,000 dinars (50 dollars) on May 2. Omar Fatah, the Kurdish prime minister (in Sulaimaniyah administration) had sued them in November 2005 for publishing incorrect information (in an article that accused Fatah of firing two civil servants for turning off his private phone because the bill had not been paid.) Several journalists attended the sentencing.