On April 16, 2020, a person who described themselves as the Sheikh of the Al-Mayah tribe texted Ali al-Haj, a reporter for the Iraqi broadcaster Al-Sharqiyya in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, demanding he stop his reporting and threatened him, according to al-Haj, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.
Since March 19, 2020, unidentified individuals have threatened Kurdish Iraqi freelance journalist Amanj Warte, who contributes to the broadcaster KNN and the news website Sbeiy, after he published an article in Sbeiy on March 18 about alleged plans for a Turkish military outpost in Kurdish Iraqi territory, according to Warte, who spoke to CPJ via…
On March 31, 2020, two officers of the Iraqi Police Sixth Emergency Regiment assaulted Mohamed Kader al-Samarrai, director of the local broadcaster Al-Maliyah TV, after stopping him at a checkpoint to enforce the country’s COVID-19 curfew, according to a Facebook post by al-Samarrai and reports by the National Union of Journalists in Iraq and the…
New York, April 3, 2020 — Iraqi authorities should immediately reinstate the license of the Reuters news agency, and allow all media outlets to cover the COVID-19 pandemic freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
New York, March 26, 2020 — Authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the torture and robbery of journalist Adnan Rashidi and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
On March 24, 2020, Iraqi National Security Forces officers stopped Azad Shakur, a reporter for the Iraqi Kurdish broadcaster Gali Kurdistan, and seized his belongings for allegedly violating a lockdown imposed to restrict the spread of the COVID-19 virus, according to Shakur, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview, and a report by the…
New York, March 17, 2020–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the abduction of Iraqi journalist Tawfiq al-Tamimi and urged Iraqi authorities to ensure his safety and to immediately open a transparent investigation and hold those responsible to account.
On February 21, 2020, Iraqi riot police in Baghdad’s Al-Kilani Square shot Ahmad al-Rubaye, an Iraqi photographer for the French news agency Agence France-Presse, with rubber pellets that hit his back, legs, and right shoulder, according to news reports, a statement by the local press freedom group Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, and the journalist, who spoke…
Beirut, February 12, 2020 — Iraqi authorities should conduct a swift and transparent investigation into the killing of Al-Rasheed TV chief executive officer Nizar Thanoun and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.