CPJ condemns attack on radio station in Iraqi Kurdistan
New York, March 8, 2011–Nearly a dozen gunmen stormed an independent radio station in Sulaimaniya’s Kalar district on Sunday, vandalizing the office, breaking most of the equipment, and confiscating the rest. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assault on Radio Dang and calls on the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan to thoroughly investigate the attack. …
Veteran journalists seek justice in Iraqi Kurdistan
Last week, a number of prominent journalists who cover Iraqi Kurdistan wrote an open letter to the president of the Kurdish Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, and the president of Iraq, Talal Talabani, calling on them to bring to an end a sharp rise in violations of press freedom. A journalist was abducted and murdered in the country as…
Journalists assaulted covering Iraqi Kurdistan protests
New York, April 20, 2010—Anti-riot police assaulted journalists covering two different protests in Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday and Tuesday. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks and calls on authorities to stop harassing journalists reporting in the field.
CPJ alarmed by press violations in Iraqi Kurdistan
Dear Prime Minister Barzani: The Committee to Protect Journalists would like to bring to your attention the deterioration of press freedom in Kurdistan. There has been an alarming wave of politically motivated criminal lawsuits filed against mostly independent journalists as well as blatant violations of the region’s new press law. The law has no provisions for jail terms for journalists, but journalists are still being imprisoned.
Journalists under increasing threat in Iraqi Kurdistan
Reuters has an in-depth story today on the increasingly dangerous reporting environment in Iraqi Kurdistan. Part of the problem, the article reports a local editor as saying, is that “the government thinks that journalists are the opposition.” Killings, threats, and attacks against journalists are on the rise, with about 60 occurrences reported to CPJ in…
In Iraqi Kurdistan, CPJ delegation highlights press freedom concerns
Arbil, Iraq, November 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists concluded a two-week fact-finding mission to Iraqi Kurdistan today by calling on Iraqi Kurdish leaders to investigate a spate of unsolved assaults on outspoken journalists, and by urging legislators to remove vague prohibitions from a press bill now before parliament.
Iraqi federal police detain Kurdistan TV crew in Kirkuk
On May 25, 2022, the Iraqi federal police obstructed and detained a two-person crew working for Kurdistan TV, the official broadcaster of Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party, in a village in Daquq district, southwest of Kirkuk province, and released them after an hour of questioning, according to a report by Kurdistan TV and the…
Kurdish Iraqi security forces arrest freelance photojournalist Qaraman Shukri at his home in northwestern Kurdistan
New York, July 8, 2020 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over the arrest by Iraqi Kurdish security forces of freelance photojournalist Qaraman Shukri. On June 27, officers with the Kurdish Asayish security force arrested Shukri, a freelance contributor to pro-Kurdistan People’s Party (PKK) news website RojNews and the broadcaster KNN, which…