ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iraqi defense ministry has filed a lawsuit against Mohammed Amin, a farmer in Kirkuk’s Shanagha village, who went viral after an altercation with an Iraqi army soldier. The lawsuit is merely a pressure tactic to “coerce Amin to withdraw his own lawsuit,” the farmer’s lawyer tells The New Region.

Tensions erupted in February after Iraqi forces prevented farmers in northern Kirkuk’s Sargaran subdistrict from entering and cultivating their lands, despite the then-recent passage of a law in the Iraqi parliament to return real estate properties confiscated under the previous Ba’ath regime to original Kurdish and Turkmen owners in areas that were subjected to the Arabization process.

During the incident, Amin was captured engaging in a physical altercation with a member of the Iraqi army in which the soldier was seen pulling on Amin’s scarf. The picture made the rounds on the internet, inciting public uproar against the Iraqi army’s actions.

The soldier, as well as the Iraqi defense ministry, filed a lawsuit against the farmer, which was brought to public attention on Monday, a move decried by Amin’s lawyer Yusif Hassan as a pressure tactic to force Amin to settle and “withdraw his own lawsuit.”

The defense ministry’s lawsuit argues that Amin encouraged other farmers to oppose and stand against the Iraqi army, while the soldier’s lawsuit is formed on more personal grounds, alleging that the farmer assaulted him on duty, Hassan added.

Hassan said that Amin and fellow farmers were released yesterday after it was deemed there was insufficient evidence to convict them of criminal offenses. He claimed that charges were pressed against the group by "resettled Arabs" whose claim to the land in question stems from contracts made during Saddam Hussein's rule, but that these contracts have now been nullified by Iraqi courts.

Amin was released on bail for the ministry's lawsuit on a sum of 3 million Iraqi dinars, the lawyer told The New Region over the phone. The soldier's lawsuit however, still remains open.

“The lawsuits are filed to pressure Mr. Mohammed to withdraw his own lawsuit,” Hassan continued. “Mohammed has complete evidence against them,” while “they have no evidence,” he added, postulating that it is a “withdrawal for withdrawal” tactic.

The ministry’s lawsuit cites article 229 of the Iraqi Penal Code as the grounds for the lawsuit, which stipulates that “anyone who insults or threatens an employee or any person entrusted with a public service, or a council or official body while performing their duties, shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.”

Iraqi army forces have repeatedly prevented Kirkuk’s farmers from entering the areas in recent years, insisting that the lands belong to the state.

Hassan noted that cultivating the disputed lands is prohibited until directives are issued by the court ascertaining who has the rights to them.

The advance by Iraqi forces into the farms led to criticism by several Kurdish officials and bodies, with the Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) President Masoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) calling out the move for going against the Iraqi constitution, especially in light of the passage of the property restitution law.