In the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Zardasht Osman, a student and freelance journalist, was found shot to death shortly after publishing a poem that referenced the corruption of the ruling power structure. The poem, “I Am in Love with Barzani’s Daughter,” refers to Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan. Osman was last seen alive when he was abducted in front of his university and driven away.

 

In Rhode Island, Joshua Mendoza is suing the Providence police department after he claims three officers entered the residence where he was sleeping and assaulted him. Mendoza alleges the police demanded to know the meaning of his poem, “The Injustice of Cornel Young Jr. and Esteban Carpio.”

 

Carpio currently is serving life in prison without parole for shooting to death a Providence police detective, while Young was a local policeman accidentally killed by fellow officers in 2000.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Writer Killed Over a Poem in Iraq (by John Lundberg, Huffington Post)

A Poem to Die For (by Michael Rubin, National Review)

Killing of Journalist Inflames Iraqi Kurds (by Sam Dasher, New York Times)

Everyone's a Critic (by Alexandria D’Angelo, Courthouse News Service)

Joshua Mendoza v. City of Providence (Superior Court Rhode Island) (pdf)