A message from the unjustly imprisoned journalist to the public, via his lawyer

The Cold of Prison and the Mandela Award

In rooms designed for 10 people, 25 to 30 of us are crammed together, [sleeping] on hard carpets in this freezing winter and snowy weather.

Each of us has only two blankets. There is no heating, no warm air, and no hot water—except for a few hours a week, and even then, sometimes your turn doesn't come before the water runs cold again.

They do not allow us to buy stoves or heaters for ourselves, nor do they permit blankets to be brought in from outside. Our winter clothes reach us in the middle of summer.

This is just a small glimpse of the many problems within the prisons of Erbil.

Meanwhile, the General Director of Adult Reform is busy receiving the Mandela Award for prison reform.

Journalist Sherwan Sherwani