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Dr. Kamal Sayid Qadir (also known as Kamal Berzenji) (b. 1958 in Arbil, Iraq) is a Kurdish human rights activist with Austrian citizenship. He immigrated to Austria in 1978 and studied law at the Vienna School of Law. He has taught at the University of Suleimani (1998-99) as well as Salahaddin University in Arbil (1999-2000) in South Kurdistan. He had been arrested in October 2005 for writing articles criticising (Iraqi Kurdistan) regional president Massoud Barzani. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for the crime of defaming the Kurdish cause [1]. The heavy sentence was widely condemned by Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders and media. He was released from custody on January 25, 2006, as a result of efforts by special envoy of the Austrian foreign ministry, Gudrun Harrer. The envoy intervened after the Austrian government deemed the sentence too harsh. He was later retried and the sentenced changed to eigtheen months. In april 2006 he was finally realeased.
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