Five demonstrators were shot dead and dozens wounded by security forces in the town of Rania a week ago. Another Kurdish lawmaker, Hoshyar Abdallah, said hundreds of people had been arrested. He had been unable to fulfil his duties for the past two years in any case because of political divisions that have paralysed the Kurdish parliament since 2015. A judge meanwhile ordered the release on bail of Shaswar Abdul Wahid, a former television station head who founded a protest movement, his lawyer said. He had been arrested a week ago when returning from London.

Source: The Guardian December 26, 2017 15:45 UTC