The court of appeal in Southern Kurdistan upheld the death penalty ruling for Mazlum Dağ and Muhammed Beşikçi.

Dağ and Beşikçi had been found guilty of murder in the capital Erbil in 2019. Dağ’s family, however, claimed that they were denied their right to object to the ruling.

Turkish envoy Osman Köse, Osman Muhammed Ali and Beşdar Ramazan Salih were murdered during an incident on 17 July 2019. Six people were arrested and put on trial.

The trial took place at Erbil Criminal Court

The defendants appeared in court for the last time. Whilst Dağ and Beşikçi were sentenced to death, one of the six was sentenced to three years in prison and the remaining three received two year sentences.

According to the laws of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the court of appeal must uphold a death sentence before such verdicts can be approved by Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the region. Once his approval is confirmed, the execution takes place.

According to Mesopotamia Agency, Mazlum Dağ’s family claims that their right to object against the decision was denied.

Kudret Dağ, Mazlum’s mother, has claimed that his son’s lawyer tried to meet with Mazlum Dağ in prison on three occasions to launch the objection process against the local court’s ruling, but was denied on each occasion. To launch the objection process, a power of attorney needs to be provided. However, the time to lodge an appeal has almost expired.

Dağ’s family has called on the KRG authorities to allow Mazlum Dağ’s lawyer to see him before the time to lodge an appeal expires.