SULAIMANIYAH: A court in Iraqi Kurdistan sentenced opposition leader Shaswar Abdulwahid to five months in prison on Tuesday, his lawyer and party said.
The businessman-turned-politician heads the New Generation party, which holds 15 of the 100 seats in the northern region’s parliament, and nine of 329 seats in Iraq’s parliament.
His party serves as the main opposition to the autonomous Kurdish region’s two historic parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The court sentenced Abdulwahid to “five months in prison,” his lawyer Bashdar Hasan told AFP, adding that his team would appeal.
New Generation vowed in a statement to intensify its efforts against the KDP and the PUK, and expressed readiness for Iraq’s legislative elections in November.
