Kurdish security forces raided the home of Elias, a cameraman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan-affiliated satellite channel Kurdsat, in the Nineveh provincial town of Bashika, according to the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, a local press freedom group.
Colleagues of Elias, also known as Faisal Ghazaleh, told the observatory that he was arrested and transferred to the security directorate in Dohuk, the capital city of Dohuk province, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Officials at Kurdsat and at the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate told CPJ that authorities provided no details about the arrest other than stating that the cameraman was being held for “security” reasons.