Authorities in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region handed down a new prison term on Tuesday to jailed investigative journalist Sherwan Sherwani, his lawyer said, just before he was due to complete a previous sentence.

At the court in the regional capital Arbil, witnesses said there were altercations between law enforcement and Sherwani's relatives and supporters who came to attend the hearing.

Sherwani is the former editor of the magazine Bashur, known for its investigations into corruption.

He was arrested in 2020 and jailed the following year for "espionage" and "incitement to protest and destabilise the region", and in 2023 received another sentence for falsifying a signature on a petition.

The journalist's lawyer, Mohamed Abdallah, said he was due for release in September, but on Tuesday was instead sentenced to another "four years and five months in prison over accusations of threatening a prison guard".

Abdallah said the defence plans to appeal the verdict, dismissing the latest case against Sherwani as political.

Activists say corruption and arbitrary arrests are widespread in Kurdistan, which presents itself as an oasis of stability.

Abdallah said he saw "men in civilian clothes" beating with rifle butts some of Sherwani's relatives as well as activists and lawmakers at the court, resulting in "minor injuries".

An opposition lawmaker, Badal Barwari, said in an online video that a scuffle broke out as some of Sherwani's supporters, who were asked to leave the crowded courtroom, began taking videos on their phones.

Police then removed most of those present, he said.

Activist Kamaran Osman, of the NGO Community Peacemaker Teams, said that "when people started chanting 'Freedom for Sherwan Sherwani', the security forces began beating them."

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