Asos Hardi assault trial adjourned

KURDISTAN TRIBUNE  – 27.9.2012 – Omar Fatah and Asos Hardi – The Sulaymani high court has adjourned until 21 November the trial of two men accused of assaulting Awene editor-in-chief Asos Hardi. Asos Hardi was attacked by armed men in August 2011.

Local police arrested four people and charged two of them. Hardi told the local news agency Lvinpress that: “For the second time the court decided to postpone the hearing to 21 /11/12. It is by law that the accused parties have the right to defend themselves and bring all evidence to the court”.

One of the accused is a nephew of PUK Politburo member Omar Fatah. The accused had previously been recruited to his uncle’s brigade and, according to sources close to the Sulaymani security office, there is evidence of a lot of telephone contact between him and Omar Fatah and his wife directly before and after the assault. Readers might wonder why a member of the PUK politburo needs his own personal brigade. The unfortunate reality is that most PUK leaders – including PUK deputy leader Kusrat Rasul – have their own brigades, like the private militias operating in Somalia and elsewhere.