An court's decision to uphold the sentences of five activists and on Sunday has been condemned by diplomats as a breach of press freedom.
Journalists Ayaz Karam, Sherwan Sherwani, and Guhdar Zebari, and activists Hariwan Issa and Shvan Saeed were sentenced in February to six years in prison, charged with endangering the safety and sovereignty of the country.
The five covered or took part in last year's and were prosecuted by Kurdish authorities using the Iraqi penal code.
The appeal court first the decision at the end of April. Although human rights organisations condemned the first dismissal of the appeal, the response from the diplomatic community was muted.
A rejection of the second appeal was met with loud condemnations by ambassadors and embassies.
European Union Ambassador to Iraq Martin Huth he was "appalled" by the court's decision to uphold the sentences, "despite serious procedural flaws and allegations of mistreatment identified by the UN".
The lawyer for the defendants that earlier charges of spying for the US and German consulates in Erbil had been removed from ruling paperwork.
The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) tightening grip on press freedoms has been condemned by human rights organisations. Earlier this month, said it heard accounts of forced confessions and torture of detainees at the hands of Iraqi Kurdistan security forces.
Iraqi Kurdistan has asked for international assistance "to support legal and judicial reform in Kurdistan", Dindar Zebari, the government's international advocacy coordinator said in a statement sent to °®Âþµº earlier this month.