ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Region’s Independent Human Rights Commission on Friday cast doubt on the authenticity of confessions from People’s Front leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi’s affiliates that were acquired by Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)-affiliated authorities in Sulaimani, saying that the body has not been allowed to see the detainees more than once, raising concerns that the detainees may have endured torture.

The commission said in a statement on Friday that a refusal to allow their members to visit the detainees from the Lalezar gunfight for a second time "tells us that those people could have been tortured and violence could have been used against them while [obtaining] confessions,” and "that is why they don't want anyone to see them."

An operation conducted by PUK-affiliated forces in late August saw People’s Front leader and former PUK co-chair Lahur Sheikh Jangi arrested at his residence in the Lalezar Hotel in Sulaimani’s Sarchnar, after several hours of heavy exchange of gunfire by both sides. The Lalezar battle killed more than a dozen on Jangi’s side and saw the arrest of multiple others, with at least three PUK-affiliated fighters also dying in the skirmish, with at least 19 more being wounded.

The commission further noted that they had asked Sulaimani authorities to hold a second visit with the detainees, but their request has been rejected by the city's security services, arguing that the commission has already visited one time and “it is not necessary for them to come again.”

The statement added that according to the commission’s investigations, some of the missing persons from the incident are members of the PUK-affiliated Counter-Terrorism and Commando forces, who were mobilized on August 22 to besiege the opposition leader's house and arrest him.

Days after Jangi’s arrest, the PUK-affiliated Kurdistan Region Security Agency (Asayish) published a seven-page document implicating Jangi in an assassination attempt against PUK leader Bafel Talabani. The Asayish document, which cites statements from the apprehended individuals from the Lalezar gunfight that saw Jangi arrested, as well as the agency’s own investigative efforts, outlines that the opposition leader has been implicated in “attempting to target and terrorize the leader of the PUK.”

The report further accuses the opposition leader of engaging in efforts to sow "chaos and unrest through threatening security forces and scaring civilians and government workers.”

Footage of the confessions was also published in addition to the document. The New Region has not been able to independently ascertain the circumstances under which the confessions were acquired.