kurdistan

New York, June 19, 2009--A journalist in the Iraqi Kurdistan town of Dukan said he is concerned about his safety after a confrontation with a security officer for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Tuesday evening.   

On Thursday, I participated in a panel discussion about media in the Middle East at the United Nations to commemorate World Press Freedom Day. Other panellists included Alya Al-Thani, counsellor, Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations; Abderrahim Foukara, chief of the Washington Bureau of Al-Jazeera; Ebtihal Mubarak, journalist for Saudi Arabia's English-language daily Arab News; and Ghassan Shabaneh, assistant professor of Middle East and International Studies at Marymount Manhattan College. I talked about the great obstacles to press freedom in the region...

The release of Iraqi journalist Adel Hussein, who had been jailed in Iraqi Kurdistan, is making news today. The Associated Press has coverage of his pardon from President Masoud Barzani, as does Canada's CBC News. Both articles cite our coverage of the case and quote CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney, who called on the authorities "to ensure that the new legislation is enforced and that Adel Hussein is the last journalist to be sent to prison in Iraqi Kurdistan because of his work."

Our annual census of imprisoned journalists, which lists 125 journalists in jail, has gotten more coverage today and over the weekend. Geek has a story that focuses on our finding that the majority of those in prison are online journalists. The Web site ArsTechnica also examines this angle in its coverage, and Democracy Now! ran a similarly pegged radio segment over the weekend. The Pakistan-based newspaper Daily Times ran a story on the report in its Saturday edition.

Editor & Publisher has coverage of our annual census of imprisoned journalists, which was released earlier today. The report lists 125 journalists in jail as of December 1, 56 of whom are online journalists.

Another radio journalist has been killed in the Philippines today according to reports from The Associated Press. Leo Mila, a radio broadcaster in the north of the country, was gunned down in front of his radio station earlier today. Mila's program focused on discussing citizen's complaints. According to reports, he had been working on a story about money collection issues at a local school.

New York, December 2, 2008--The Iraqi Kurdistan government should immediately release a journalist who was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine, in violation of the region's press law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Shwan Dawdi, editor-in-chief of the Kirkuk-based newspaper Hawal, sent a letter thanking CPJ for its help in overturning his conviction and one-month prison term. "I would like to express ... my thanks and gratitude for your noble and courageous position to defend the freedom of the press and journalists," Dawdi wrote.

New York, November 13, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a decision from a court in Iraqi Kurdistan today to reject a one-month prison sentence and fine against journalist Shwan Dawdi.