Journalist from Darmstadt in Iraq released from prison
Created: 05/21/2022, 08:13
By: Jens Joachim
Sitting in the prison of the Iraqi secret service in Baghdad: the journalist and activist Marlene Förster.
© Civaka Azad
The journalist Förster is free again after a month in prison in Iraq.
The Darmstadt city councilors previously decided unanimously on an emergency application.
Update from Friday, May 20, 2022, 4:15 p.m .:
The student, political activist and journalist Marlene Förster from Darmstadt, who was arrested in northern Iraq on April 20, and her Slovenian colleague Matej Kavcic are free again.
The two were released from custody on Friday and deported, said the solidarity group "Free Marlene and Matej", which also includes Marlene Förster's mother Lydia Förster, on Friday.
Marlene Förster was brought to Berlin by plane on Friday, a spokesman for the solidarity group told the Frankfurter Rundschau.
Petition and emergency motion demanded "Freedom for Marlene and Matej"
More than 53,000 people had already signed a petition for the release of Förster and Kavcic on change.org, including the former Vice President of the European Parliament, Evelyne Gebhardt (SPD), the social medicine doctor and candidate for Federal President Gerhard Trabert from Mainz and the member of the Bundestag and former parliamentary group leader of the left, Bernd Riexinger, as well as Volker Jung, the Church President of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau, and Bishop Beate Hofmann from Electoral Hesse.
On Thursday evening, the Darmstadt city council unanimously passed an emergency motion on the initiative of the parliamentary groups Die Linke, SPD, Uwiga/WGD and the city councilor Christina Dietrich from the Freie Wahlern.
In it, an “urgent request was made to the Federal Foreign Office and the German embassy in Iraq to work towards the release of the two detainees with high priority.”
According to their supporters, Förster and Kavcic had researched the situation of Yazidis in the Sinjar region of Northern Ireland.
After their arrest, they were taken to the headquarters of the Iraqi secret service in Baghdad.
A few days after the arrest of the two, the Iraqi military launched an offensive in the region.
In 2014, the terrorist militia "Islamic State" committed massacres among the Yazidi population.
Iraq accuses jailed journalist from Darmstadt of espionage
First report from Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 5:31 p.m.:
Darmstadt – After almost a month, the student, political activist and journalist Marlene Förster, who was arrested in northern Iraq on April 20, was heard by a magistrate in Baghdad for the first time.
In addition, the 29-year-old from Darmstadt had contact with her lawyer for the first time.
Marlene's mother Lydia Förster told FR.
An employee of the German embassy in the Iraqi capital and Marlene's lawyer were also present during the judicial hearing.
The embassy informed her that the originally rumored terrorism allegation was "off the table".
Baghdad: Allegations of espionage against journalist Marlene Förster from Darmstadt
According to the embassy, her daughter is now being accused of spying and violating residence permits.
However, it is unclear what lies behind the allegation of espionage, said Lydia Förster.
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Marlene's mother also reported that the employee at the embassy in Baghdad was able to give her daughter clothing, toiletries, medicine and a book.
Marlene was so happy about the book that she burst into tears.
Like her Slovenian colleague Matej Kavcic, Marlene Förster is in the prison of the Iraqi secret service in Baghdad.
Darmstadt: Marlene Förster and colleague Matej Kavcic in custody in Baghdad
For several months, Förster and Kavcic had researched the Yazidi settlement area in the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar/Sengal.
In 2014, Yazidis there were threatened with annihilation by the so-called Islamic State.
To date, there has been no peace in the region.
In mid-April, Turkey launched a new offensive against the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK in northern Iraq.
In addition, the Iraqi army is said to have launched attacks on Yazidi militias in the Sinjar region just a few days ago.
Darmstadt/Baghdad: suspected terrorism against Marlene Förster from the table
Lydia Förster also said that Marlene was "physically fine", although mentally she was "a bit attacked".
"We are glad that the suspicion of terrorism is off the table and we hope that we can now refute the absurd accusation of espionage."
Nevertheless, she is certain that the Iraqi state is trying to "criminalize free journalism in connection with the situation in Sengal," criticizes Förster.
Darmstadt: Rally on Friedensplatz and emergency request planned
Meanwhile, a solidarity group invites you to another solidarity rally on Friedensplatz this Wednesday, May 18, at 6 p.m.
There was already a first rally there last Wednesday, May 11, at which Lydia Förster reported on the first surprising phone call from her daughter who was imprisoned in Baghdad.
In an emergency motion on Thursday during the next meeting of the city council in the Darmstadtium, the parliamentary groups of Die Linke, SPD, Uwiga/WGD and city councilor Mandy Neumann (Die Party) want to take up the demands of the demonstrators and set a sign of solidarity for Förster and Kavcic.
(Jens Joachim)
