QADIR, KAMAL SAID

(1958- )

   An Austrian citizen of Kurdish descent, Qadir became a well-known human rights case when he was arrested on 26 October 2005 in Irbil in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area for his accusations against the Barzani family of corruption, nepotism, torture, political assassinations, and other misdeeds. At first he was sentenced to a 30-year prison term, but after an international human rights campaign, he was released. Qadir then filed a lawsuit in Austria against Masrour Barzani, the head of the KRG internal security (Asayesh) agency and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) intelligence-gathering (Parastin) agency. In February 2008, Barzani was arrested in Austria along with five of his bodyguards for severely beating Qadir in Vienna, but Barzani was eventually released. The entire incident, however, left a negative mark on the KRG's human rights reputation.