Kamal Qadir

Dr. Kamal Sayid Qadir (also known as Kamal Berzenji; born 1958 in Arbil, Iraq) is a Kurdish human rights activist with Austrian citizenship. He immigrated to Austria in 1978 and studied law at the Vienna School of Law. He has taught at the University of Suleimani (1998–99) as well as Salahaddin University in Arbil (1999–2000) in Iraq. He had been arrested in October 2005. He was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for defamation.[1] The sentence was condemned by Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders and media. Dr.Qadir went on hunger strike when in prison and stopped when he could get his demands.[2]

He was released from custody on January 25, 2006, as a result of efforts by special envoy of the Austrian foreign ministry, Gudrun Harrer. The envoy intervened after the Austrian government deemed the sentence too harsh. Qadir was later retried and the sentence was changed to eighteen months. In April 2006 he was released.

References
  1. Richard A. Oppel, Jr. (26 January 2006). "Defamer or dissident? Kurd tests the new Iraq". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  2. Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir gets worse in health on hunger strike


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