“The arrest, abuse, and intimidation of journalists in Iraq’s Kurdish region are deeply concerning and reflect a broader pattern of hostility toward press freedom,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director. “Authorities must investigate these incidents transparently and ensure that journalists can report safely and without fear of retaliation or violence.”

In the early hours of July 9, Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish, arrested three journalists in Rovia, a subdistrict of the northern city of Duhok’s Bardarash area. The journalists — Taif Goran, a reporter for opposition-linked NRT TV; his camera operator, Rayan Sidqi; and Rizgar Kamil, a reporter for Westga News — had traveled to Erbil’s Khabat district to cover clashes between security forces and tribal fighters. After all journalists were blocked from entering the area, they returned to Rovia to broadcast live and were detained. They were released the afternoon of July 10, after more than 25 hours in custody.

Taif Goran told CPJ that at around midnight, during a live broadcast, five Asayish vehicles arrived and officers beat and blindfolded the journalists. “We were tortured and beaten as much as they could and pressured to quit journalism,” he said. “Later, we were moved to Bardarash and held in solitary cells that had been used as toilets, in 35-degree (95 F) heat with no ventilation or water for hours.”

Goran said they were forced to unlock their phones, which were returned on July 15 with all their data erased.

Kamil told CPJ that officers beat the men during the arrest and again at the Asayish office in the city of Rovia. “They called us traitors and chaotic,” he said. “My phone was reformatted, and my back still hurts from the beating.”

On July 14, three security personnel assaulted Hersh Qadir, head of NRT’s Erbil office, while he was covering a protest in Erbil’s Ainkawa district. He told CPJ that a man in plainclothes identifying himself as an Asayish officer ordered him not to broadcast.

CPJ contacted the Bardarash Asayish by phone, where officials confirmed the arrests but denied any assault or torture, offering no further explanation.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.

“The shutdown of Iraq AlHadath without transparent justification represents a troubling move against press freedom in Iraq,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director. “We urge Iraqi authorities to reconsider this action and reaffirm their commitment to a free and independent press, in which journalists can report without intimidation or interference.”

On July 1, a joint security team consisting of interior ministry, Iraqi national security service, and communications and media commission members raided the channel’s headquarters. They ordered staff to halt their broadcast and close the office, citing a court decision ordering the closure that was shown to the outlet’s management, according to two Iraq AlHadath employees and a reporter, all of whom requested anonymity, as well as multiple news reports.

“We expect to restart the broadcast next week,” one of the outlet’s staff members said.

Two officials from Iraq AlHadath told CPJ they believe the move was politically motivated, citing the channel’s coverage of several sensitive topics, including financial and administrative corruption.

Following the shutdown, Iraq AlHadath aired an on-screen message reading, “Broadcast has been temporarily suspended” alongside its slogan, “The Platform of Free Iraq.” The channel’s website and social media accounts also ceased publishing content under the order.

Iraq AlHadath was launched earlier this year. It is owned by Sheikh Bilal Al-Maliki — a young Iraqi businessman, political activist, and tribal leader of the Bani Malik tribe. 

CPJ reached out to Haider Nadhem, spokesperson for Iraq’s communications and media commission, and Brig. Gen. Muqdad Miri, director of media and public relations at the interior ministry, but received no response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Dekhla Rashid slaps down seven photographs onto the floor of her home in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit—one after another… after another… after another. She gently spreads them out on the tiles. “These are all my relatives the Dutch government killed,” she says, flatly.

Most of the images are of smiling children. These are Rashid’s nephews and nieces, who were between the ages of seven months to 11 years.

Exactly a decade ago, on the night of June 2, 2015, the Dutch air force bombed a facility used by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to manufacture explosive devices in the town of Hawija in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk Province, to which Rashid and her family had fled a year before. The secondary explosion from the strike was massive, flattening surrounding residential neighborhoods and damaging homes as far as five kilometers from the site. 

At least 85 civilians were killed and hundreds more were wounded. In a split second, Rashid’s brother, Abdallah Rashid Salih, lost one of his wives and nearly all of his children. Some families were completely wiped out. The bombing mission was one of some 2,100 raids carried out over Iraq and Syria by Dutch F-16s as part of the US-led international coalition against ISIS between 2014 and 2018. The bombing in Hawija was among the deadliest and most serious incidents during the operation. 

For years, senior government officials and ministers attempted to cover up and downplay the bloody incident, failing to report known civilian casualties and deliberately misinforming the Dutch parliament on the extent of damage caused by the airstrike. But in 2019, victims in Hawija filed a civil case against the Netherlands—which is still ongoing—demanding accountability and compensation. 

“The Dutch government needs to recognize that we are human beings, just like them,” says 56-year-old Rashid, sniffling through tears. A decade later, survivors are still struggling to put their lives back together. 

‘ISIS is coming’

In June 2014, ISIS, known for their severe brutality and radical interpretations of Sharia law, took advantage of rising insecurity in the Sunni-dominated areas of Iraq and led a successful offensive on Mosul and Tikrit. Soon after, the Islamic Caliphate was declared, stretching from Aleppo in Syria to Diyala in northeastern Iraq. At its height, the caliphate controlled an area roughly the size of Portugal, spanning about 90,000 square kilometers, including about a third of Syria and 40% of Iraq. 

Rashid, her brother, and his entire family immediately fled their homes in Tikrit during the initial offensive. “We heard a lot of bullets and rockets being fired from ISIS,” Rashid tells TRNN. “We grabbed some basic items and left everything else behind us and just ran as fast as we could.” The second wife of Salih, Rashid’s brother, was shot and killed as she fled, just seven months after she gave birth to her first child. 

Quickly, the Iraqi government requested military support from the United Nations to fight against ISIS, prompting the United States to appeal to other countries, including NATO members, to aid Iraq’s military efforts. More than 80 countries, including the Netherlands, joined the US-led international coalition that took part in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR). The operation consisted mostly of supporting Iraqi forces through airstrikes targeting ISIS infrastructure and leadership. The Netherlands was among the first European countries to send combat aircraft to Iraq.

Each time Rashid and her family stopped somewhere to rest, they were warned by others fleeing that ISIS militants were coming. Eventually, they arrived in Hawija, about 100 kilometers away from Tikrit. Kurdish Peshmerga forces, with aerial support from the OIR coalition, successfully blocked ISIS’ advancement into the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. However, the militants were able to successfully overrun Hawija and controlled the town until October 2017.

Around 650,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) fled into Kirkuk, beyond the reach of ISIS. But Rashid and her family did not make it there in time; they became trapped in Hawija, their lives suddenly transformed by the harsh realities of ISIS rule. Along with hundreds of other IDPs who had attempted to flee, Rashid and her family settled in the town’s central industrial area, which is interconnected with family homes and surrounded by densely populated civilian neighborhoods.

According to Tofan Abdulwahab Awad, head of Al-Ghad League for Woman and Child Care—an Iraqi organization that has worked on documenting the aftermath of the bombing—owing to Hawija’s proximity to Kirkuk, just an hour’s drive away, scores of IDPs from across ISIS territory traveled there, hoping to find a route into Kurdish-controlled territory. 

“But these IDPs found themselves in a big jail,” Awad tells TRNN. “ISIS would allow the IDPs into Hawija, but they would not allow them to run to Kirkuk.” Any man who was caught was immediately executed, Awad says, and ISIS planted landmines on the informal routes from Hawija to Kirkuk, blowing up entire families who attempted to escape. Still, some IDPs were able to successfully bribe ISIS members to smuggle them further north.

According to Awad, ISIS coerced the IDPs to settle around the town’s industrial area by prohibiting them from leaving the city limits and offering them free housing around a large warehouse that was encircled by a tall cement wall. The IDPs and residents in Hawija had no idea that this warehouse was being used by ISIS to manufacture vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBEIDs), store weapons and homemade explosives, and as a collection point for vehicles to distribute them from that location. According to a recent report, ISIS was storing about 50,000 to 100,000 kilograms of explosives at the facility. 

The exact number of IDPs who settled around the warehouse is unknown since many were transient—staying in Hawija for a night or two before finding a way further north. But there were likely at least hundreds of IDPs there, says Awad. “Of course, people who are desperate and have lost everything would accept the free housing around the warehouse,” Awad explains. “The city became very crowded with civilians.”

“But the IDPs were being manipulated by ISIS to stay around that area so the group could use them as human shields to prevent the international coalition from targeting that warehouse.” 

‘Judgement day’

Rashid and her brother’s family settled in the industrial zone next to a compound for fixing automobiles and paid rent for the first month. “We were very poor,” Rashid says. “So we didn’t have enough money to keep paying. But the landlord allowed us to stay for free after that.” According to Awad, the landlord was likely compensated by ISIS to encourage the family to stay there. 

On the night of June 2, Rashid was on the ground floor of their apartment with Najm, the infant whose mother was killed a year before when they fled Tikrit. The rest of the family was sleeping on the roof, escaping the heat of Iraq’s summer nights.

When the clock struck midnight, without warning, an enormous explosion pummeled the town. “Everything turned red,” remembers Rashid. “It felt like there was a powerful earthquake shaking the ground. I thought it was Judgement Day.” Rashid immediately threw herself on Najm to protect him from the blast. 

Following the explosion, an eerie stillness permeated the town, which had become submerged in complete darkness. Only a slight cast from the full moon illuminated Rashid’s surroundings. “Dust and shattered glass were everywhere,” Rashid says. A terrifying screech suddenly cut through the air. “I heard my brother yelling over and over again, ‘My whole family is gone!’” In the darkness, Rashid grabbed Najm and slowly made her way towards Rashid’s frantic screams. 

When she reached the roof, “I saw that the children were on the floor covered in blood. They were dead.” Rashid pauses as she breaks down in tears. 

She points at the photos laid out in front of her. One of the photos is of Rashid’s 32-year-old sister-in-law, Salih’s first wife, and another is of her 22-year-old niece, who had just graduated from university. The rest of the photographs are of Salih’s children, between the ages of seven months and 11 years old.

Five-year-old Amal’s skull was shattered into two pieces; her brain fell out onto the ground. Yamama, 11, was still breathing, but her body was almost entirely cut in half; she died en route to the hospital. Mahmoud, Salih’s other seven-month-old, was found dead, with one of his eyes dangling outside of its socket.

“I will never forget what I saw that night,” Rashid says, her voice shaking. Only three of Salih’s children survived, including Najm, the seven-month-old Rashid had protected during the explosion. 

The dawn light revealed the devastating impact of the blast. “There was so much destruction,” Rashid recounts. “I truly thought it was the end of life on this planet.” According to Awad, more than 1,200 shops, homes, and public institutions, including schools, were completely obliterated in the explosion, while around 6,000 homes were damaged.

Around 190 families in Hawija have at least one member who was confirmed killed or whose body is still missing after the attack, notes Awad. Some IDPs in Hawija did not bring their identity documents with them, especially if they were ever affiliated with the Iraqi government, military, or police—an immediate death sentence under ISIS rule. These unidentified bodies—and possibly more—were buried in mass grave sites in Hawija, to which the Iraqi government has not allowed organizations access, according to Saba Azeem, who heads projects in Iraq for PAX’s Protection of Civilians team, a Dutch peace organization that has done extensive research and documentation of civilian experiences in Hawija. 

There are unofficial reports from Iraqi intelligence that civilian deaths from the strike surpassed 100. 

Rashid and her surviving family moved into another home and continued living in Hawija for months after the attack. “The whole area was under siege and all the roads were closed so there was nowhere for us to go,” she says. “Every time we heard a plane above us the children would start screaming and crying.” 

“We thought the international community was going to save us from ISIS,” Rashid adds. “But then they targeted us. We were living in constant fear. We felt like at any moment they were going to strike us again.” 

Residents in Hawija were so terrified of another attack from the coalition that they risked their lives desperately trying to flee into Kirkuk. Many were caught by ISIS and executed or blown up from mines, according to Awad. 

Unable to continue living in terror of another attack, Rashid, her brother, and his surviving children decided to take the dangerous journey back to Tikrit, walking throughout the night. When they arrived, they found their home there was also burned down and destroyed. “We were forced to start again from zero,” Rashid tells TRNN. 

‘Constant lying’ 

For years, victims in Hawija had no idea who was exactly behind the airstrike. 

In 2018, in communications with parliament, the Dutch ministry of defense alluded to inquiries into incidents in which they may have been responsible for civilian casualties during the war against ISIS. Dutch journalists were able to trace some of this information back to Hawija. In 2019, four years after the strike, Dutch media reported for the first time that it was two Dutch F-16 fighter jets that dropped the bombs on the warehouse in Hawija, which caused the mega secondary explosion. 

This prompted human rights lawyers to visit the town and assist victims, including Rashid’s family, in filing a civil lawsuit against the Netherlands in October 2019. According to ​​Liesbeth Zegveld, a prominent human rights lawyer representing the victims and their families, the case against the Netherlands currently represents 300 claimants. If successful, the case’s outcome will apply to all other victims as well, she says.

While the claimants are demanding compensation from the Dutch government, the court proceedings—which have involved some of the claimants, including Rashid’s brother Salih, traveling to the Hague to testify—are still establishing whether the Dutch military was liable for the damage. The claimants argue that the Dutch took an unreasonable risk when they bombarded Hawija, without having proper information on the amount of explosives at the site and the potential harm it would cause to the civilian population. If the court agrees, then compensation would follow, explains Zegveld.

The Dutch state has refused to take responsibility for the devastation, shifting blame to the United States for having provided incomplete intelligence before the airstrike and claiming they could not have known that the warehouse was surrounded by civilian populations.

Earlier this year, however, a long-awaited report was published by the Committee Sorgdrager, an independent commission established in 2020 by the Dutch government and headed by Minister of State Winnie Sorgdrager, which has shattered the state’s defense. In the report, the commission reveals that senior Dutch government officials withheld important information from parliament on the extent of civilian casualties or shared incomplete information, even years after the airstrike.

The Netherlands had too-little access to intelligence from its coalition partners, the committee says. As a result, the Netherlands appears to have relied entirely on US intelligence. This could make the United States equally liable for the devastation in Hawija, but “each party has to follow their own checks and balances,” explains Frederiek de Vlaming, a prominent criminologist and former director of the Nuhanovic Foundation, which has provided crucial support for victims during the court proceedings. 

“[The commission] has shown that the Dutch military did not follow their own checks and balances or procedures, and neglected their duty and responsibility to investigate cases where there’s a risk of civilian casualties,” explains Vlaming. 

While the United States is also responsible, it would be nearly impossible for victims to seek redress from the US owing to a 1946 law that preserves US forces’ immunity for claims that arise during war. 

Significantly, the commission concluded that the Netherlands should and could have known that the area of the ISIS bomb factory was located in a populated area. It pointed out that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had published information about the IDPs in Hawija’s industrial area months before the airstrike. According to the commission, coalition country representatives and pilots were aware of the residential neighborhoods around the target, with one individual even mentioning that there was a mosque nearby—a clear indicator of civilian infrastructure. 

Due to the presence of civilians in the area, the Dutch squad commander requested that the strike be delayed from 9PM to midnight, with the assumption that fewer civilians would be moving around the area at that time. This decision clearly shows that the Dutch military anticipated there would be civilians in the area.

Furthermore, the ministry of defense had claimed that a video which had captured footage of the post-strike destruction was overwritten the day after the airstrike because it did not show anything important. But, in March, a few months after the commission report was published, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans announced that this video had been found at a military base. The video shows that the industrial area in Hawija had been completely wiped out after the airstrike and the residential areas surrounding it were destroyed and badly damaged.

“What we have seen [from the state] is just constant lying,” Vlaming tells TRNN. “They have lied about everything for years and in different stages.” 

The commission also criticized community-based compensation schemes that the Netherlands provided to Hawija in 2021, following pressure from the Dutch parliament. This consisted of funding projects through the IOM and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) around infrastructure, basic services, and employment. These projects were completed in October 2022 and February 2023, more than seven years after the airstrike, with a total cost of €4.5 million.

The commission concludes that this general compensation was “too little, too late.” Residents in Hawija have also stated the projects are a “drop in the ocean” compared to the devastation the Dutch military caused. The state has previously rejected individual compensation to victims and families of victims. 

Zegveld tells the TRNN that she expects the commission’s findings to significantly help the claimants’ case against the state.

‘Frozen’

Rashid and her family are still haunted by the bombing a decade ago. “My brother doesn’t even do much now in his life except eat and cry,” Rashid says, her eyes fixed to the ground. “It’s like our lives are frozen into that one night. None of us can escape thinking about what we saw.” 

“It’s hard for us to even look at their pictures,” Rashid continues, glancing at the photographs still lined up on the floor. “These were children. They were pure and innocent. What crime did they commit?” 

Tabarak, Rashid’s niece who is now 18 years old, still suffers from night terrors. “Every night, I dream about what I saw that day,” Tabarak tells TRNN, sitting beside her aunt. “I have to relive it every single day.” Mohammed, Rashid’s nephew who is now 23, sometimes falls into psychosis, Rashid says; he suddenly begins screaming hysterically before coming back to reality. 

According to Azeem, from PAX, these experiences are common throughout Hawija. Some residents can no longer stand the sight of meat, she says, after witnessing their neighbors’ bodies ripped apart from the blast; others have attempted suicide. Residents are living with permanent and debilitating injuries. Many shops and businesses are still destroyed and unemployment is rampant. Without financial support, many have been unable to rebuild their lives even 10 years later. 

There has been no environmental testing or cleanup initiated in Hawija, according to Azeem. Residents tell TRNN that they have observed an increase in cancer cases and rare deformities in children, which they connect to toxic elements from the explosives still in the environment. 

Undoubtedly, financial compensation for affected individuals is badly needed. But, for Rashid, compensation is not the ultimate goal.

“We want our rights,” Rashid says, her voice rising sharply. “We want the Dutch to admit what they did and take responsibility for the lives they destroyed. We lost our families, our children, our homes, our health, and our livelihoods. We lost everything. That is not something the Dutch can just ignore.” 

Despite the Netherlands continuing to dodge responsibility for their role in devastating the lives of numerous residents in Hawija, Rashid has found some hope in her pain. 

“The only thing that gives me strength to wake up each morning, even when I feel like dying, is that I know deep in my heart that we will get justice,” Rashid says, displaying a firmness that hitherto was masked by tears.

“But it is up to the Dutch to decide from which court that justice will come: the Dutch court or the court of God.” 

This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Jaclynn Ashly.

“The suspension of Al-Haq Yuqal talk show without citing a clear and specific reason amounts to a restriction on press freedom and risks encouraging self-censorship,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director. “We urge Iraqi authorities to end their legal harassment of the press and ensure that journalists and media outlets can operate freely, without fear of legal intimidation.”

On May 4, Iraqi authorities suspended the program for seven days and ordered the removal of past episodes from the channel’s platforms, citing “violations of public decency.” The decision—issued by Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission, its federal broadcasting, telecommunications, and information technology regulator—said the program “repeatedly violated articles 2 and 4 of the national broadcasting code, [related to] public taste and the accuracy of information.” However, no specific episode was mentioned in the commission’s decision.

UTV, a Baghdad-based satellite channel launched in 2020 and owned by the son of politician Khamis al-Khanjar, objected to the decision with a message to its viewers during the show’s usual time slot. It described the decision as “strange and unjust” and affirmed the program would return soon “in belief in the freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution.”

CPJ called and messaged Al-Taie but received no response. In an appearance on his channel on May 4, Al-Taie said the suspended episode had condemned sectarian rhetoric. “If criticizing sectarianism threatens societal peace, then what exactly is the role of a journalist?” he asked.

When CPJ asked for clarification, commission spokesperson Haider Nadhem Al-Alaq said via messaging app, “We considered the decision sufficient because it includes the articles of the broadcasting code that were violated.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“The aggressive treatment meted out to journalists by Erbil security forces while covering a peaceful protest is deeply concerning,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “We urge Iraqi Kurdistan authorities not to target journalists during protests, which has been a recurring issue.”

Kurdistan has been in a financial crisis since the federal government began cutting funding to the region after it started exporting oil independently in 2014. In 2024, the Federal Supreme Court ordered Baghdad to pay Kurdistan’s civil servants directly but ongoing disagreements between the two governments mean their salaries continue to be delayed and unpaid.

Since the end of Kurdistan’s civil war in 1998, the semi-autonomous region has been divided between the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Erbil and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Sulaymaniyah. While the KDP has discouraged the teachers’ protests, the PUK has sometimes supported them, including through affiliated media outlets.

At the February 9 protest, a crowd of teachers from Sulaymaniyah tried to reach Erbil, the capital, and were stopped at Degala checkpoint, where CPJ recorded the following attacks:

• Pro-opposition New Generation Movement NRT TV camera operator Ali Abdulhadi and reporter Shiraz Abdullah were stopped from filming by about seven armed security officers, known in Kurdish as Asayish, according to a video posted by the outlet.

“One of them chambered a round [into his gun]. I tried to leave but one of them attempted to strike me with the butt of a rifle, hitting only my finger. Another grabbed my camera and took it,” Abdulhadi told CPJ.

• Diplomatic’s reporter Zhilya Ali collapsed from teargas, a video posted by the privately owned digital outlet showed.

“There are still wounds on my face from when I fell,” she told CPJ, adding that she was taken to hospital and given oxygen.

• An ambulance took pro-PUK digital outlet Zhyan Media’s reporter Mardin Mohammed and camera operator Mohammed Mariwan to a hospital in Koya after they were teargassed.

“I couldn’t see anything and was struggling to breathe. My cameraman and I lost consciousness for three hours,” Mariwan told CPJ.

• Pro-PUK satellite channel Kurdsat News reporters Gaylan Sabir and Amir Mohammed and camera operators Sirwan Sadiq and Hemn Mohammed were teargassed and their equipment was confiscated, the outlet said.

• Privately owned Westga News said five staff — reporters Omer Ahmed, Shahin Fuad, and Amir Hassan, and camera operators Zanyar Mariwan and Ahmed Shakhawan — were attacked and teargassed. Ahmed told CPJ that a security officer grabbed a camera while they were broadcasting, while Fuad said another camera, microphone, and a livestreaming encoder were also taken and not returned.

• Pro-PUK Slemani News Network reporter Kochar Hamza was carried to safety by protesters after she collapsed due to tear gas, a video by the digital outlet showed. She told CPJ that she and her camera operator Sivar Baban were treated at hospitals twice.

“My face is still swollen, and I feel dizzy,” she told CPJ.

• A team from Payam TV, a pro-opposition Kurdistan Justice Group satellite channel, required treatment for teargas exposure.

“We were placed on oxygen and prescribed medication,” reporter Ramyar Osman told CPJ, adding that camera operator Sayed Yasser was hit in the knee by a rubber bullet.

• Madah Jamal, a reporter with the pro-opposition Kurdistan Islamic Union Speda TV satellite channel, told CPJ that he was also teargassed.

• Pro-PUK digital outlet Xendan’s reporter Shahen Wahab told CPJ that she and camera operator Garmian Omar suffered asthma attacks due to the teargas.

• Pro-PUK satellite channel Gali Kurdistan’s reporter Karwan Nazim told CPJ that he had to stop reporting because he couldn’t breathe and asked his office to send additional staff.

“I had an allergic reaction and my face turned red. I had to go to the hospital,” he said.

Raided and arrested

Abdulwahab Ahmed, head of the Erbil office of the pro-opposition Gorran Movement KNN TV, told CPJ that two unplated vehicles carrying Asayish officers followed KNN TV’s vehicle to the office at around 1:30 p.m., after reporters Pasha Sangar and Mohammed KakaAhmed and camera operator Halmat Ismail made a live broadcast showing the deployment of additional security forces by the United Nations compound, which was the protesters’ intended destination.

“They identified themselves as Asayish forces, forcibly took our mobile phones, and accused us of recording videos. They checked our social media accounts,” Sangar told CPJ.

KakaAhmed told CPJ, “They found a video I had taken near the U.N. compound on my phone, deleted it, and then returned our devices.”

In another incident that evening, Asayish forces arrested pro-PUK digital outlet Politic Press’s reporter Taman Rawandzi and camera operator Nabi Malik Faisal while they were live broadcasting about the protest and took them to Zerin station for several hours of questioning.

“They asked us to unlock our phones but we refused. Then they took our phones and connected them to a computer,” Rawandzi told CPJ, adding that his phone was now operating slowly and he intended to replace it.

“They told us not to cover such protests,” he said.

CPJ phoned Erbil’s Asayish spokesperson Ardalan Fatih but he declined to comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Baroshky’s lawyer, Revving Hruri, told CPJ via messaging app that the charges stem from a January 23, 2024 Facebook post in which Baroshky reported that political prisoner Mala Nazir had been kidnapped from the prison one day before his scheduled release.

In February, after Baroshky’s reporting was circulated widely in the local media, Zirka prison authorities sued the journalist for allegedly violating of Article 2 of the Misuse of Communication Devices law.

“We are deeply troubled by the sentencing of journalist Omed Baroshky over a Facebook post,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Iraqi Kurdish authorities must ensure that journalists are not criminalized for their reporting. We urge authorities to free Baroshky and allow him to continue his work without fear of retaliation.”

Hruri told CPJ that they presented the court with “multiple pieces of evidence proving that he is a journalist and should be tried under the press law, which does not allow imprisonment, but the court refused.”

Hruri said that while the court confirmed during the trial that Nazir had been transferred from the prison, “they alleged that Omed defamed the prison.”

CPJ contacted Aram Atrushi, the director of Zirka prison, for comment, but he declined to discuss the case.

Baroshky previously spent 18 months in jail from 2020 to 2022 under the same law over social media posts that criticized authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan. After his outlet Rast Media was raided and shut down in April 2023, he turned to Facebook as his main reporting platform.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“We are appalled by the brutal attack on journalist Wrya Abdulkhaliq, which left him with severe injuries to his abdomen and head,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “The Kurdistan Regional Government and its Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs must deliver justice for this vicious assault.”

The attack took place on November 4, hours after Abdulkhaliq, a reporter for the online outlet Bwar Media, published a report on allegations that an official had blocked the implementation of a local electricity and water project, according to multiple news outlets and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ. The report said the unnamed official was part of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, which is the defense ministry in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern region of Kurdistan.

Abdulkhaliq told CPJ and a news conference that he was in his orchard when the official’s nephew and bodyguard approached, and the bodyguard aimed a gun at him.

“I quickly grabbed his hand and pushed him back to prevent him from shooting. The nephew tried to shoot but misfired,” Abdulkhaliq told CPJ. “The nephew stabbed me deeply in the abdomen with a combat knife. Then the bodyguard prepared to shoot again but he [the nephew] stopped him, saying, ‘Let’s not shoot him; he’s already wounded and will die.’”

Bwar Media’s editor-in-chief Ibrahim Ali told CPJ that the assailants also punctured Abdulkhaliq’s tires. He said doctors told him that the journalist was stable after receiving 21 stitches in the hospital.

“Two assailants along with a military official have been arrested. We are committed to ensuring that justice is served,” Ramak Ramazan, mayor of Chamchamal District where the incident took place, told CPJ via phone, without providing further details.

CPJ’s calls to request comment from Deputy Peshmerga Minister Sarbast Lazgin were not answered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic August 23 drone strike that killed two journalists and injured a third in Iraqi Kurdistan,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Turkish authorities should swiftly investigate this attack and determine if the reporting team was targeted for their work.”

The attack killed Gulistan Tara, a 40-year-old Turkish journalist, and Hero Bahadin, a 27-year-old Iraqi video editor. All three journalists worked for Chatr Multimedia Production Company, which operates Sterk TV and Aryen TV, news channels funded by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK.) Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization, and Iraq’s National Security Council banned the group earlier this year.

Turkey has escalated its military operations in the Kurdistan Region, targeting the PKK, which has been engaged in a decades-long conflict with Turkey. On July 8, a Turkish strike in Sinjar, northern Iraq, led to the death of a Çira TV reporter.

Rebin Bakir, an Iraqi video editor and social media officer injured in the August 23 attack, is in stable condition after treatment at Shar Hospital in Sulaymaniyah for broken legs and hands, according to Hawzhin Shwan, a Sterk TV reporter and anchor, who spoke to CPJ.

The three were on a reporting mission in an unmarked car along the Sulaymaniyah-Halabja road near the village of Goptapa when they were hit, Kamal Hamaraza, head of Chatr Multimedia Production Company, told CPJ, adding that they were journalists “with no direct or indirect connection to politics or military activities.”

“We have faced ongoing threats from Turkish attacks due to our consistent coverage of their operations and violations in the Kurdistan region,” Hamaraza said.

Salam Abdulkhaliq, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region Security Agency, told CPJ that the agency “will publish publicly if they issue anything.” 

CPJ’s email requesting comment from the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations did not receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“CPJ is deeply concerned by the attacks on the Zoom News TV crew in Sulaymaniyah and the Alsumaria TV crew in Baghdad,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “We call on Iraqi authorities to thoroughly investigate these incidents and ensure their security forces are properly trained to interact with journalists.”

On August 18, in Halabja, Sulaymaniyah province, Iraqi Kurdistan Asayish security forces attacked Zoom News TV reporter Avin Atta and cameraman Zhyar Kamli while they were reporting on a demonstration against the killing of a porter, known as a kolbar, by Iraqi border forces in the Hawraman area.

Atta told CPJ that an Asayish official twisted her arm behind her back, dislocating her shoulder and wrist, after she refused to hand over their camera and microphone. The security forces released Atta and Kamli after reviewing their footage for more than an hour. 

CPJ did not receive a response to its request for comment sent via messaging app to Salam Abdulkhaliq, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region Security Agency.

Zoom News TV supports the newly formed People’s Front, a political party participating in Kurdistan’s October 20 parliamentary elections.  

Separately, Iraqi SWAT forces assaulted Alsumaria TV reporter Amir Al-Khafaji and cameraman Omar Abbas while they were covering an August 19 Baghdad protest by medical school graduates demanding jobs.

Al-Khafaji told CPJ by phone that four SWAT officers beat him and confiscated their equipment and phones after he tried to stop them from attacking Abbas.

After taking the journalists to a police station in Baghdad’s Al-Rusafa district, the officers accused them of assaulting security forces and refused to release them until they signed a pledge not to attack security forces again. “We were shocked and denied the allegations,” said Al-Khafaji.

CPJ received no response to its call for comment from Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesperson Brigadier General Miqdad Miri.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“CPJ is alarmed by the sentencing of Syrian journalist Sleman Ahmed, who has been detained for nine months,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “We urge Iraqi Kurdistan authorities to release him without further delay and stop persecuting journalists for their work.”

Authorities charged Ahmed with espionage on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to Ramazan Tartisi, one of Ahmed’s lawyers, who spoke to CPJ. Tartisi and Luqman Ahmed, another member of the legal team who has no relation to the journalist, told CPJ that the journalist denied the charges and plans to appeal. 

The separatist PKK is designated a terrorist organization by several countries and institutions, including the U.S., Turkey, and the European Union. Iraq officially banned the group last week. 

Ahmed is the Arabic editor for the local news website RojNews, based in Sulaymaniyah, a city in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. RojNews is pro-PKK and regularly reports on the organization’s activities. 

The charges were “merely a means to retaliate against the journalist,” Luqman Ahmed told CPJ, saying that the court had no evidence for the conviction and the legal process was “very unfair,” adding that the lawyers were only allowed to attend the trial after pressure from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and foreign consulates.

Iraqi Kurdish authorities arrested Ahmed on October 25, 2023, when he re-entered Kurdistan after a family visit in Syria. The Security Directorate (Asayish), responsible for border security in Duhok Governorate, accused him of conducting “secret and illegal” work for the PKK.

CPJ’s call to Duhok Asayish Director Zeravan Baroshky for comment did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Iraqi Kurdish authorities have made a habit out of detaining and harassing journalists,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s Interim MENA Program Coordinator, in Washington D.C. “We are deeply concerned over the detention of prominent photojournalist Murat Yazar in the region for eight days and call on the authorities to immediately stop harassing members of the press and let them do their jobs freely.”

Iraqi Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish, have detained, raided, and harassed dozens of journalists in the last three years.

Yazar, a Pulitzer Center grantee, had gone missing in the city of Zakho, in the Duhok province of Iraqi Kurdistan, on July 13. Iraqi Kurdish Asayish forces detained and interrogated him for what his family said was his unintentional entry into an area under restrictiondue to Turkish military operations against the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. Yazar entered the area while working on a visual storytelling project about the Tigris River, according to a statement by the family, which CPJ reviewed. He was released without any charges, the statement said.

The officers confiscated Yazar’s passport, phone, and camera bag, according to the statement, and did not allow him to call his family or the Turkish consulate in Erbil.

After his release from Duhok Asayish prison, he crossed the border into Turkey around 1 a.m. on Monday, according to his brother, Baran, and two of his friends, Nil Delahaye, a human rights activist, and Paul Salopek, the founding executive director of the nonprofit Out of Eden Walk.

On Sunday, CPJ called Ahmed Ramazan, head of the Zakho police, and Ali Osman, an investigator at the Zakho Asayish office, who both stated that they had no information about the journalist.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

The two Çira TV reporters—Mydia Hussen and Murad Mirza—were with their driver Khalaf Khdir returning from covering the tenth anniversary of an ISIS attack on the southern village Tal al-Qasab, according to Argash Shingali, a board member of Germany-based satellite broadcaster Çira TV. Shingali said “the car lacked any media markings.” 

The strike hit the journalists’ car in Sinjar (Shingal) District in northern Iraq on Monday, July 8, according to Shingali and Mehvan Hinji, head of Êzidxan Asayish forces, which is affiliated with the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), a Yazidi militia with ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization, and Iraq’s National Security Council banned the group earlier this year.

A Monday statement by Cira TV and a report by pro-PKK media outlet Rojnews said the strike was carried out by Turkish forces, a claim repeated by Kurdistan Region’s Directorate General of Counter Terrorism in a Monday press release. Shingali told CPJ that the outlets confirmed it was a Turkish strike after speaking to Êzidxan Asayish forces.

Hinji told CPJ via messaging apps that they were still investigating whether the strike originated from Turkish forces.

Both reporters are currently being treated for head injuries at Sinjar Hospital in Sinjar city, Shingali said. The driver was also injured, he said.

“Iraqi and Turkish authorities must immediately and thoroughly investigate the car strike that injured two Çira TV reporters and their driver to determine its cause,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Local authorities must ensure journalists’ safety in northern Iraq as they report on crucial events.”

Sinjar is part of a disputed territory in northern Iraq and has been occupied by a succession of Iraqi and non-Iraqi sub-state actors. Turkey often conducts strikes in Sinjar, targeting YBS fighters.  

CPJ’s repeated calls to Mohammed Al-Zahabi, the director of Iraqi national security forces in Shingal city, were unanswered.

In September 2019, local authorities banned Çira TV from operating in Duhok province.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Ahmed — an Arabic editor for the local news website RojNews — is due to stand trial before Duhok Criminal Court in northern Iraqi Kurdistan on June 30, RojNews editor-in-chief Botan Garmiyani and Ahmed’s lawyers Nariman Ahmed and Reving Hruri told CPJ.

The news follows the filing in April of an Urgent Action to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances by CPJ and the MENA Rights Group to clarify Ahmed’s fate and whereabouts.

Ahmed was arrested on October 25 while entering Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region from Syria, where he had been visiting his family. The Security Directorate (Asayish), which is responsible for border security in Duhok Governorate, accused Ahmed of carrying out “secret and illegal” work for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The separatist PKK is designated a terrorist organization by countries and institutions, including the U.S., Turkey, and the European Union. Iraq’s National Security Council banned the group from operating in the country earlier this year. Ahmed’s outlet, RojNews, is pro-PKK and regularly reports on its activities.

Ara Khder, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Office of the Coordinator for International Advocacy, told CPJ in an email on May 26 that Ahmed had been arrested under the order of the Duhok Investigation Judge under Article 1 of Law No. 21 of 2003 and charged with espionage. Ahmed was being held in the Duhok Security Directorate’s prison.

“Accusing Sleman Ahmed of espionage and holding him for months before giving him access to his lawyers is yet another setback to press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan,” said CPJ Program Coordinator, Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Iraqi Kurdish authorities should release Ahmed immediately and drop all charges against him.”

‘We had no idea where he was’

The journalist’s lawyers told CPJ that Ahmed had no legal representation until May 22, when they were able to visit him in prison and receive official recognition as his legal team.

“For six months, we had no idea where he was, just so we could get his approval to be his attorneys,” said Hruri.

“For the first time since his arrest, he was also able to have a brief phone call with his family,” the journalist’s other lawyer, Nariman Ahmed, told CPJ.

The journalist could face life imprisonment if convicted under Article 1 of acts intended to undermine the stability, sovereignty, and security of the Kurdistan Region’s institutions.

Four other Kurdish journalists have been jailed for three to six years under the same article on charges of endangering the national security of the Kurdistan Region.

While Khder said in her May 26 email that Ahmed had access to his family, Ahmed’s lawyers and his brother, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, told CPJ that the family had not been allowed to visit him.

“They only allowed him a two-minute phone call to confirm he is alive, no more, no less,” the journalist’s brother told CPJ in June via messaging app. “They don’t allow us to visit him in prison.”

Garmiyani told CPJ that RojNews rejected the charges against Ahmed. “This is merely a plot to imprison him. We demand his immediate release,” he said.

CPJ called Duhok Asayish Director Zeravan Baroshky for comment but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On the evening of Saturday, May 18, Iraqi Kurdistan Asayish security forces arrested Star, a presenter at local media agency Tiwar News, while he traveled from the eastern city of Sulaymaniyah with his wife and two children at a checkpoint near Koysinjaq city in Erbil province, according to his outlet and an Asayish statement. The Asayish security forces seized Star’s car and took the journalist to their headquarters in Sulaymaniyah.

The Kurdistan Region Security Agency said Star was charged with preparing and presenting “false and misleading news reports” on an informal social media page that incited chaos and terror. If convicted of insulting government officials and public authorities, Star faces up to seven years in prison or an unspecified fine.

The Asayish forces are the primary security and intelligence agency in Iraqi Kurdistan, and its forces are significantly influenced by the two main Kurdish political parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Koysinjaq is the only district in Erbil province that is under PUK control and is secured by its Asayish forces.

Asayish security forces have detained, raided, and harassed dozens of journalists in the last three years.

“Iraqi Kurdish authorities have made a habit out of jailing journalists critical of the ruling parties, and the practice must end,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Iraqi Kurdish authorities must immediately release journalist Shakar Star and all others imprisoned.”

Rebaz Abdullah, head of Tiwar News, told CPJ via messaging app that he thinks Star’s arrest stems from a series of four news reports published in April and May on Tiwar News’ social media titled “Welcome to the Emirate of Smuggling [Sulaymaniyah], which documented information about the smuggling of gold, U.S. dollars, weapons, drugs, and human trafficking, and implicated Sulaymaniyah security forces.

Tiwar News issued a Sunday statement saying Star had not received a formal arrest warrant, only a verbal summons, which they “viewed as a threat rather than a legal action.” The statement also said Star only presented the reports, which were written by a team of professional editors.

“Star only read them; he didn’t write them,” Abdullah told CPJ.

Reached by phone, Salam Abdulkhaliq, spokesperson of the Kurdistan Region Security Agency, told CPJ, “I have nothing more [to say] than the statement.” CPJ called Saadi Ahmed Pira, a PUK party spokesperson, for comment but received no response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Zebari is one the so-called “Badinan prisoners” – a group of journalists and activists from the ethnic Badinani group who were arrested in the wake of 2020 anti-government protests and tried in court processes that observers called flawed and politically motivated. Two of these journalists, Sherwan Sherwani and Qaraman Shukri, are still in prison. Together, they have become icons of the freedom of expression movement in Iraqi Kurdistan after their imprisonment sparked international outrage.

In an interview with CPJ after his release, Zebari described the charges he faced, his experience in detention, and the state of press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

CPJ did not receive responses to its requests for comment on Zebari’s case from Dindar Zebari, the Kurdistan Regional Government coordinator of international advocacy, Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed, and Mahmood Mohammed, spokesperson of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

You were arrested in connection with your work, yet Iraqi Kurdish authorities have said multiple times that your case is not journalism related. What is your response to that?

At the time of my arrest, I was preparing an investigative report about migration of young people from the Shiladze district in Duhok governorate. This investigation followed a four-day training course organized by the German consulate in Sulaymaniyah city. Upon my return, security forces raided my sister’s house and arrested me while I was working on the report.

The accounts presented during the investigations, in court, and in the media were inconsistent. They attempted to conceal the true nature of the case and convince the public that our arrests were not related to journalism. This was because they couldn’t legally arrest us under press laws, which only entail fines and not arrests. Their motive was retaliation, hence they fabricated accusations to justify imprisoning us.

When [Prime Minister] Masrour Barzani labeled us as spies posing a threat to national security before the trial, those who supported him were instructed to assert that we were spies, not journalists. Masrour Barzani was willing to sacrifice everything, including the integrity of the courts and security agencies, to support this plot. The government and its security agencies were complicit in this scheme. But within the government, there were dissenting voices. The president of the region, Nechirvan Barzani, disagreed with these measures [and in 2022 reduced their sentences by 60%].

Your trial on anti-state charges was built on flimsy and circumstantial evidence, and you lacked proper access to a lawyer. Can you talk about the difficulties in the legal process?

During investigations, we were forced to unlock our phones, and we were blindfolded the whole time. We couldn’t see anything about our case. They didn’t tell us what charges we were facing; they just wanted to know who was giving us information. But you know, journalists aren’t supposed to reveal their sources. The investigators were always angry, and whenever I requested a lawyer, they would laugh mockingly. They’d say, “Who do you think you are, asking for a lawyer? Do you really believe any lawyer can assist you?”

We only got permission to call our family after 11 months. Even then, we were only allowed to call once every 15 days, for just two minutes. They listened in on the calls, so we couldn’t discuss our case, charges, or even our health. This made it impossible for us to defend ourselves.

One time, I tried to tell my father over the phone that we had been sentenced to six years for writing about and defending our people’s rights, and that we were fighting for justice. They [prison authorities] immediately ended the call and punished me by putting me in solitary confinement for 16 days.

In a democratic country, authorities gather evidence before arresting people. But in our case, they arrested us first and then searched our phones and personal files to find evidence. They claim they are the law, the homeland, the nation, and everything. If you criticize this system, they say you’re against the country, the law, and the court.

We were only criticizing certain people in the government, not the whole region. Many people supported us, and even in prison, some people from [the ruling] Kurdish Democratic Party sent messages to me and my family. That shows we’re not a threat to national security; we were just criticizing one government and one person. But they act like they represent the whole nation. All the political parties supported us, except for one person who was the prime minister. That shows it’s all personal.

How were you treated in prison?

In the beginning, I spent 62 days in solitary confinement, and it was the worst time of my life. Even when we were taken to the bathroom, they covered our heads with towels so we couldn’t see anything. The whole situation was filled with fear and panic.

After that, I was moved to a small cell measuring six meters [19.7 feet] in length and 4.5 meters [14.8 feet] in width, where there were 150 people, sometimes even more. It was overcrowded, making it difficult to breathe or sleep, especially with so many smokers around.

After December 2021, I was transferred to the correctional facility in Erbil, which was better, but still involved a lot of psychological torture. We [Zebari and Sherwani] weren’t allowed to read, and that rule was only for us.

Sherwan endured further mistreatment when he was penalized for a common practice in the Kurdistan Region: signing on behalf of friends. Qaraman Shukri has also suffered undue punishment. I urge Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani to grant a pardon and rectify this strategic error.

[Editor’s note: Sherwani was accused of falsely signing Zebari‘s name on a petition submitted by several prisoners in August 2022; Sherwani’s lawyer said that Zebari, who was in solitary confinement at the time, had given Sherwani permission to sign.] 

What has life been like since your release?

Every night since my release, my family has been receiving threatening calls from known and unknown individuals. These individuals assert that I am “outspoken and critical” in my public speeches. They urge my family to persuade me to refrain from speaking against the government and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

On the first day of my release… I had held a press conference during which I strongly criticized Masrour Barzani, labeled the government’s behavior as “extreme authoritarianism,” and asserted that [my town] Akre is under the control of KDP [Barzani’s Kurdish Democratic Party]. A friend informed me that the security agency conducted a meeting to address my statements. The agency head instructed his team to draw a clear “red line” for Guhdar.

I didn’t take the threat seriously, but later my cousins informed me that the head of Asayish [the Kurdish government security force] in Akre said that my speech was too harsh and I would have to pay a price. I am living now in one of the villages around Akre city. My father received phone calls from the village’s mukhtar [local chief] who relayed a message from Reza Zebari, head of the Zebari tribe, saying “Don’t speak like this, don’t go out, don’t talk to any other channels, just be quiet.”

Here in Iraqi Kurdistan, there’s no guarantee for our safety. I face constant threats and live with uncertainty. I don’t know if I’ll be here tomorrow or not. This is the reality for journalists in Kurdistan. It’s like walking on a minefield, where danger can explode at any moment.

How is your health?

Physically, I’m in good health; however, psychologically, I feel disoriented and unstable. My time in Asayish prison left me in a dire state, isolated from the outside world.

Now that you are out of prison, will you continue your journalism?

It’s too early to make concrete plans, but yes, I intend to continue with journalism. I have ambitious goals to advocate for human rights and journalists’ rights. My aim is to report on news that impacts people. I want to establish an effective media outlet in the Badinan area [an area of Iraqi Kurdistan where the ethnic Badinani group is from, known officially as Duhok] and I have submitted my proposal to some people and parties who can be potentially funders of the project, to be able to work freely and professionally. I have some positive responses, and I urge international organizations to back my project aiming at promoting press freedom in the Badinan area in Iraqi Kurdistan to push our government to follow real democracy, not fake promises. It’s frustrating because they [the government] say they support democracy, freedom of the press, and human rights in public, but behind closed doors, they don’t take those issues seriously.

Since I just got out of prison, I need time to think about what to do. I don’t want to leave my country or stop being a journalist. I want to keep reporting and improve myself so I can help my colleagues who are still in prison.

Iraqi Kurdistan was long perceived as a safe haven for journalists. But in recent years, CPJ has documented numerous press freedom violations. How would you rank press freedom there now?

Iraqi Kurdistan is not a safe place for journalists. The courageous ones who report the truth always face threats. For example, Sherwan Sherwani has been an editor for many magazines since 2004, including a well-known one in Kurmanji. He’s received numerous threats and has been arrested multiple times because of his work.

One important point I want to emphasize is the difference between real journalists and those who work for government-affiliated media outlets. In my opinion, simply reporting positive government achievements isn’t journalism; real journalism involves uncovering what they [authorities] are hiding and bringing it to light.

Any other message you want to relay after your release?

To the world, I want to say that your support keeps us going. We rely on your support, and people often ask us why we keep going. It’s because we depend on your support, so please continue to stand with us.

Additional reporting by Soran Rashid.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Doja Daoud.

Ahmed, who works with the PKK affiliated Iraqi Kurdish news outlet, RojNews, was arrested while entering the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, from Syria, after visiting his family. Since then, his whereabouts and the charges brought against him, if any, have not been disclosed by the authorities. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and its allies, including the Iraqi Kurdish government.

Ahmed is one of 3 journalists currently imprisoned in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to CPJ data.

More information about the submission is included here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Baroshky was released from the city’s Zirka prison at around 10 p.m. on bail of 3 million dinars (US$2,291) to await trial for violation of Article 2 of the Misuse of Communication Devices law, those sources said. He has yet to receive a trial date, they said.

CPJ has repeatedly documented the use of the 2008 law against journalists. Baroshky previously spent 18 months in jail from 2020 to 2022 under the same law because of his social media posts that criticized authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Hruri told CPJ that the arrest stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Zirka prison authorities over Barokshky’s January 23 Facebook post where he said that a Kurdish prisoner, Mala Nazir, had been kidnapped from the prison and his whereabouts were unknown.

“Nazir’s family informed me that he was abducted. I published the news,” Barokshky told CPJ, adding the family were worried when Nazir was transferred from Zirka prison to Asayish prison in Duhok a few weeks before he was due to be released.

Nazir was subsequently released from jail on February 11.

Article 2 states that individuals who misuse social media, email, and communication devices to “slander, threaten, insult or spread fabricated news that provokes terror and conversations contrary to public morals” and publish private information about individuals that harms or offends them, can be jailed for up to five years or fined up to 5 million dinars (US$3,818).

Baroshky is the director and founder of Rast Media, a news outlet that was shuttered after the regional Asayish intelligence agency raided its Duhok office in April 2023. Since then, Facebook has become his main reporting outlet.

Irfan Barwari, spokesperson for Zirka prison, declined to comment on the case.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday urged Iraqi authorities to swiftly identify the attackers who attempted to kill Karim and hold them to account. Karim and his wife, Ghada Al-Amily, were uninjured in the attack.

Karim, publisher and editor-in-chief of Al-Mada newspaper, was on his way home after attending a book fair organized by the Al-Mada Foundation for Media, Culture, and Arts in the capital, Baghdad. Al-Amily is the director of the foundation.

The February 22 attack took place around 9 p.m. in the Al-Qadisiyah area of Baghdad, a highly secure area containing offices for Iraqi government security agencies and officers near the Green Zone, which hosts foreign embassies in Iraq.

Karim, 81, is a prominent politician and journalist who served as an advisor to the former Iraqi president Jalal Talbani and was a vocal opponent of the former Iraqi dictator and president Saddam Hussein, according to those sources. His outlet, Al-Mada, is seen as one of the only remaining critical newspapers in Iraq.

“The attempt to kill Al-Mada publisher Fakhri Karim in a highly secure area of Baghdad sheds a bright light on the darkness Iraq and its journalists are increasingly facing,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Iraqi authorities should publicly announce the perpetrators and those who stand behind them and bring them swiftly to justice.”

In a Facebook statement released Friday, February 23, Al-Mada described the event as a “cowardly assassination attempt” and called for a criminal investigation. 

Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari said in a statement covered by media outlets on Friday that he directed the formation of a specialized security team to “intensify the security and intelligence efforts to reach the perpetrators and bring them to justice to receive their punishment.”

CPJ’s app messages to Karim and email to the Al-Mada Foundation for comment about the reasons behind the attack did not immediately receive any response.

CPJ emailed the Iraqi Interior Ministry for updates about their investigation but did not immediately receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On October 25, Ahmed—an Arabic editor for the local news website RojNews—was arrested by Iraqi Kurdish authorities at the northern Faysh Khabur border and taken to an unknown location, according to news reports, the journalist’s brother Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, and RojNews editor-in-chief Botan Garmiyani, who both spoke to CPJ.

The journalist’s brother and Garmiyani said that Ahmed was returning from a visit to his family in Syria when his family lost contact with him at Faysh Khabur, which is part of the Duhok Governorate.

“Iraqi Kurdish authorities should immediately disclose the location of Syrian journalist Sleman Mohammed Ahmed, drop charges against him, and release him unconditionally,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour, in Washington, D.C. “It is unacceptable that journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan regularly have to contend with all sorts of harassment, from illegal detentions to physical attacks. Iraqi Kurdish authorities should allow journalists to work freely and without fear of reprisal.”

The Security Directorate (Asayish), which is responsible for border security in Duhok Governorate, said in a statement on its Facebook page that Ahmed’s arrest had nothing to do with his journalism but was because of his “secret and illegal” work for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK is a militant group and political party that is legal in Iraqi Kurdistan but is classified as a terrorist group by the United States, European Union, and Turkey.

Ahmed’s outlet, RojNews, is pro-PKK and regularly reports on its activities.

Asayish said that Ahmed had confessed to his actions during the investigation and would be brought to court and dealt with according to the law.

The journalist’s brother told CPJ that Ahmed was “never a fighter but only a journalist.”

Garmiyani also rejected the allegations against Ahmed, who he said had been working for RojNews since 2018, possessed all the necessary legal documents, and had never been arrested before.

“We do not know why he was arrested,” Garmiyani told CPJ. “We have contacted the security forces, but neither we nor his family have received any responses.”

CPJ has documented numerous incidents of journalists being attacked, arrested, or detained in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Ali Auni, head of the Duhok bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which controls Duhok Governorate, declined to comment.

CPJ’s phone calls to Zerevan Barushki, director of Asayish, did not receive a response.

Ashti Majeed, Asayish’s spokesperson in Duhok and Erbil, referred CPJ to its Facebook statement.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Let’s say it again: The BIGGEST fake news comes from the establishment media. When the stakes are high, it barely bothers to hide its role as mouthpiece for Western propaganda.

This is another Iraqi WMD moment. We are being gaslit. Believe your eyes and ears, and the laws of physics, not the lies being peddled by our leaders and media about last night’s missile strike on the Baptist hospital in Gaza:

1. No Palestinian group has a rocket that can hit a hospital, killing hundreds. What they have are glorified fireworks that can cause minor damage and the occasional death or two. If Hamas or Islamic Jihad could cause the kind of damage that happened last night, you would hear about it happening in Tel Aviv or Ashkelon too. You don’t, because they can’t.

2. Israel’s apologists (and there are lots of them) are sharing all sorts of videos unrelated to the hospital strike. But the video of the strike itself shows that an incredibly large and powerful weapon is used. Listen to the noise the missile makes just before the hit – that whooshing noise is caused by its phenomenal velocity as it cuts through the air. That is not the noise of a falling Palestinian rocket.

If you watch videos being shared of Palestinian rockets being fired, notice how slowly they travel. Almost at a snail’s pace. If they fail, they drop at free-fall speed, not the near-supersonic speed of the missile that hit the hospital. To think otherwise is to misunderstand the laws of physics.

3. Israel’s apologists are trying to further muddy the waters by suggesting that either a Palestinian rocket fell, or was intercepted, and the rocket or fragments of it hit a very large ammo dump in the hospital. Let’s just accept the racist premise that hundreds of families were quite happy to seek safety next to a huge stash of explosives in the middle of a relentless Israeli bombing campaign. Let’s also accept the fantastical idea that a falling glorified firework or fragment of it could penetrate the hospital’s strong walls and set off such an explosion. If all this was true, you would still see a series of secondary explosions as the arms were detonated by the initial explosion. You don’t because there is only one explosion – from an enormous missile.

4. It’s a desperate psyop, so Israel has now released a recording of two Hamas militants conveniently having a chat after the missile strike, discussing whether they or Islamic Jihad did it. This is the same Israel that did not detect months of planning by Hamas that was needed to organise its breakout 10 days ago. But Israel got lucky this time, it seems, and just happened to be listening in when Huey and Louie decided to self-incriminate.

Remember Israel has a whole unit of ‘mistaravim’, Israeli Jewish undercover agents trained to pose as Palestinians and secretly operate among Palestinians. Israel produced a highly popular TV series about such people, set in Gaza, called Fauda. You have to be beyond credulous to think that Israel couldn’t, and wouldn’t, rig up a call like this to fool us, just as it regularly fools Palestinians in Gaza.

Most of the people spreading these lies know they are lies, including the media, and most especially the Middle East and defence correspondents. At least a few, like the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen and Jon Donnison, are trying cautiously to suggest it’s unlikely a Hamas rocket could cause damage on the scale seen at the Gaza hospital. But it’s not unlikely. It’s impossible, and they know it. They just don’t dare say it.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Jonathan Cook.

On Thursday, August 24, Asayish intelligence agents arrested Kashani, a host on the broadcaster Xabir TV and head of the local office of Speda satellite TV, at his home in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Zakho, according to a report by Speda as well as his brother and two of his colleagues, who spoke to CPJ.

Authorities did not present a warrant for Kashani’s arrest and raided his home hours after his detention. He remained in Asayish custody as of Friday.

The day before his arrest, during a segment on his Gulsen news program, Kashani criticized the Kurdistan Regional Government’s alleged corruption and mismanagement of public salaries, as well as the poor living conditions of local security forces.

“Iraqi Kurdish authorities must immediately release journalist Islam Kashani and ensure that members of the press are not arrested in retaliation for their work,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour, in Washington, D.C. “Authorities must end their pattern of detaining and intimidating journalists, and allow them to cover issues of public interest freely.”

Mahir Sagvan, director of the Xabir media agency, told CPJ that he called the Asayish after Kashani failed to show up for work.

“Asayish said they had no clue about his whereabouts and stated that he’s not in their custody,” Sagvan said. “After four hours, they raided his house, and told us that Islam was arrested.“

He told CPJ he believed Kashani was arrested due to his “consistent voicing criticism against the government and corruption of the ruling parties.”

Speda TV director Abdulkarim Ahmad told CPJ that Kashani’s arrest was “entirely unlawful with no justification.”

“We are sure that the grounds for his arrest are related to his journalistic activities,” he said. “He always stands with his people and criticizes the government and local authorities, but without any defamation.”

Ahmed Kashani, the journalist’s brother, told CPJ that “about four hours after his arrest, a vehicle carrying five Asayish members conducted a raid on Islam’s residence without presenting a court warrant. They conducted a thorough search and departed without seizing any items.”

He added that Asayish forces confirmed Kashani’s detention at the agency’s headquarters in Zakho but refused to give any reason for his arrest.

Speda and Xabir TV are both associated with the Kurdistan Islamic Union, a local Islamist party.

CPJ repeatedly called Zakho Asayish head Shvan Sindi for comment but did not receive any reply. CPJ emailed the Kurdistan Regional Government but did not immediately receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On the evening of Thursday, July 20, Asayish security forces raided Baroshky’s home in the northwest city of Duhok and arrested him, according to news reports and two people familiar with his case who spoke to CPJ.

Before his arrest, Baroshky criticized the extended sentence issued earlier that day to imprisoned journalist Sherwan Sherwani at a press conference and called for protests against the decision, saying, “today it is against Sherwan Sherwani and me, tomorrow it will be against you and your family.”

As of Friday, CPJ could not determine where the journalist was being held or whether he had been accused of a crime.

“The arrest of journalist Omed Baroshky from his home in Iraqi Kurdistan is highly alarming. Authorities must disclose his whereabouts at once,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour, in Washington D.C. “Iraqi Kurdish authorities must stop their campaign of intimidation against the press and allow all journalists to work freely.”

Baroshky is director and founder of Rast Media, an outlet that was shuttered after Asayish forces raided its Duhok office in April.

Mahir Baroshky, Omed’s brother, told CPJ that authorities arrested the journalist at about 9 p.m.

“We don’t know about his whereabouts yet and haven’t been notified by Asayish forces,” he said.

Ayhan Saeed, the Dohuk representative of local press freedom group Metro Center for Journalists’ Rights and Advocacy, told CPJ that Baroshky’s arrest was part of “a pattern in Duhok” of authorities arbitrarily arresting people.

Baroshky was previously arrested in September 2020 and was imprisoned until February 2022 in retaliation for his posts on social media. Earlier this month, Baroshky told CPJ that Rast Media remained shuttered even though the outlet had acquired the necessary license to resume work. He added that Asayish forces had not returned equipment confiscated during the raid on the outlet in April.

In an interview with CPJ after the closure of his outlet, Baroshky told CPJ that “freedom of media and freedom of expression in Iraqi Kurdistan are an illusion.” CPJ has documented numerous incidents of journalists being attacked, arrested, or detained in Iraqi Kurdistan. In 2021, Niyaz Abdullah – a CPJ International Press Freedom Award honoree – fled to France to escape threats against her after criticizing Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s crackdown on press freedom.

CPJ repeatedly called Duhok Asayish director Zeravan Baroshki and regional government spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani for comment but did not receive any replies. CPJ emailed the prime minister of Kurdistan’s office but did not receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On Thursday, July 20, the Erbil criminal court sentenced Sherwani to an additional four years in prison over a complaint by the Erbil Adult Correctional Directorate for allegedly fabricating documents, according to news reports as well as the journalist’s lawyer and brother, who both spoke to CPJ over the phone.

Sherwani, who has been imprisoned since October 2020, was previously scheduled to be released on September 9, 2023, after his sentence was reduced by Kurdistan Regional President Nechirvan Barzani.

“Iraqi Kurdish authorities must drop all charges against journalist Sherwan Sherwani and free him immediately,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “With the latest decision to extend his imprisonment by four years, Iraqi Kurdish authorities are showing their determination to tell the world how vicious they can be against journalists.”

Sherwani’s lawyer, Ramazan Tartisi, told CPJ that the journalist was accused of falsely signing fellow imprisoned journalist Ghudar Zebari‘s name on a petition submitted by several prisoners in August 2022. Tartisi told CPJ that Zebari was in solitary confinement at the time but had given Sherwani permission to sign on his behalf. 

At a hearing on Thursday, “Zebari confirmed his consent for Sherwani to sign on his behalf, but the judge disregarded that and still imposed punishment on Sherwani,” Tartisi said.

The journalist received 2.5 years under Article 295 of the penal code, which pertains to falsifying documents involving debt or property, and 1.5 years under Article 298, which involves knowingly using a falsified document.

Sherwani’s legal team plans to appeal the decision, according to Tartisi, who described the decision as “unjust and harsh.” Sherwani and Zebari were both sentenced on February 16, 2021, on charges of destabilizing the security and stability of the Kurdistan region.

Barzan Sherwani, the journalist’s brother, described the ruling as “politicized,” adding, “our family will not be subject to such pressure.”

CPJ emailed the Iraqi Kurdish Ministry of Justice for comment but did not immediately receive any response. CPJ also repeatedly called the director of Erbil Adult Correctional Directorate for comment but no one answered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

On Monday, April 17, eight officers with the regional Asayish intelligence agency raided Rast Media’s office in the city of Duhok and detained director and founder Omed Baroshky and editor Yasir Abdulrahman, according to news reports and Baroshky and Abdulrahman, who spoke to CPJ by phone.

Officers held Baroshky and Abdulrahman at the Asayish’s local headquarters for about two hours and then released them without any explanation for the raid or their detention. Baroshky told CPJ that the officers confiscated four computers, two cameras, books, and other reporting equipment, and had not returned it as of Thursday.

Separately on Monday, two unidentified men attacked KNN TV reporter Ahmad Mustafa and camera operator Omer Khabati in the Iraqi Kurdistan capital of Erbil, according to news reports and those journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone. In a statement later that day, the Erbil Asayish forces said that they had arrested one of the assailants.

“Iraqi Kurdistan authorities must immediately return all equipment confiscated from Rast Media and cease harassing its journalists, and ensure that those who separately attacked a team from KNN TV are held to account,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour, in Washington, D.C. “Authorities must do more to protect members of the press from arbitrary detentions and attacks.”

Baroshky told CPJ that Asayish officers did not present any arrest warrant when they detained him and Abdulrahman. The officers locked the outlet’s office after the raid, and it remained closed as of Thursday while the organization’s staff continued to work remotely, Baroshky said.

Abdulrahman told CPJ that Asayish officers threatened that they would not be able to work from their office again. Authorities demanded Baroshky and Abdulrahman’s personal contact information and requested they comply with any future summons, they said.

In a statement, the Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy, a local press freedom group, said that Baroshky and Abdulrahman’s detention without a court order violated Kurdistan’s press law.

Baroshky was previously arrested in September 2020 and was imprisoned until February 2022 in retaliation for his posts on social media.

CPJ called Duhok Asayish Director Zeravan Baroshky for comment, but did not receive any reply.

In Erbil, Mustafa told CPJ that he was filming a show about Ramadan when “I was unexpectedly attacked by two unknown civilians.” The men punched Mustafa in the face and knocked him to the ground.

“The attack happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to react or even see the person coming towards me,” Mustafa said. “Within seconds, someone else attacked me from behind and snapped my neck down, they continued punching me without telling me why they were doing so.”

Khabati told CPJ that one of the assailants punched him in the head as well, and that he tried to film the attack but was unable to do so. Mustafa told CPJ that he had filed a lawsuit against the unknown assailant.

Photos and videos reviewed by CPJ show scratches on Musfata’s neck and face, and rips to his clothing.

KNN TV, the broadcast arm of the Kurdish News Network, is affiliated to the Change Movement political party.

CPJ called Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed for comment on the status of the investigation into the attack but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

American journalists and soldiers have published countless memoirs about their experiences in the Iraq War. But a new book by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad provides a radically different perspective: that of an ordinary Iraqi who witnessed firsthand the decimation of his country.

“The occupation was bound to collapse and fail,” Abdul-Ahad writes of the U.S. invasion in his remarkable memoir, “A Stranger in My Own City: Travels in the Middle East’s Long War.” As Abdul-Ahad goes on to explain, “A nation can’t be bombed, humiliated and sanctioned, then bombed again, and then told to become a democracy.”

“We were all merely potential collateral damage in a war between the dictator and American neocons adamant that the world should be shaped in their image.”

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This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Murtaza Hussain.

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Adam Bychawski, Anita Mureithi.

As we continue to mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we are joined by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, an award-winning Baghdad-born Iraqi journalist and author. Abdul-Ahad has received the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, the British Press Awards’ Foreign Reporter of the Year and the Orwell Prize. His new book is A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East’s Long War. “I want the history to be told properly,” says Abdul-Ahad about his hopes for the future of Iraqi society after decades of dictatorship, sanctions, war, occupation and corruption.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

At around 5:30 a.m. local time in Baghdad on March 20, 2003, air raid sirens were heard in Baghdad as the U.S. invasion began. Within the hour, President George W. Bush gave a nationally televised speech from the Oval Office announcing the war had begun. The attack came on the false pretext that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction, and despite worldwide protest and a lack of authorization from the United Nations Security Council. We spend today’s show with two Iraqis looking back at how the unprovoked U.S. invasion devastated Iraq and helped destabilize much of the Middle East. Feurat Alani is a French Iraqi writer and documentarian who was based in Baghdad from 2003 to 2008. His recent piece for The Washington Post is headlined “The Iraq War helped destroy what it meant to be an Iraqi.” Sinan Antoon was born and raised in Baghdad. He is also a writer, as well as a poet, translator and associate professor at New York University. His latest piece appears in The Guardian, headlined “A million lives later, I cannot forgive what American terrorism did to my country, Iraq.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

A U.S. Marine doctor holds an Iraqi girl after front-line crossfire ripped apart an Iraqi family in central Iraq on March 29, 2003.

Photo: Damir Sagolj/Reuters via Alamy

We are an exceptional nation but not in the way we have been told: America kills its own at rates that are far higher than peer nations.

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Peter Maass.

The students were protesting the lack of water, fuel, electricity, and other basic necessities at their dormitories. According to the journalists and CPJ’s review of videos that news outlets published online, the media crews that were obstructed from covering the protests were Esta Media Network, a network affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK); the independent agency Bwar Media; Shar Press, an independent media agency owned by veteran journalist Kamal Rauf; NRT TV, owned by businessman and politician Shaswar Abdulwahid; Kobas, a media agency affiliated with the PUK; and Wllat, a media agency affiliated with the PUK.

All of the journalists were later allowed to continue their jobs, except for Bwar Media correspondent Nabaz Rashad, whose equipment was destroyed.

Esta News reporter Dyar Hussen, who along with his cameraman Ayub Salih were among the journalists attacked, told CPJ that “the dormitory’s authorities assigned a specific location for the journalists to cover from.”

Hussen said he covered the protest on Facebook Live without any issues, and then more media crews arrived and started covering it as well. Suddenly, Najat Zrar, head of the dormitory, “came out from the main gate of the dormitory and attacked us all,” said Hussen. “He threatened us and asked us to quit covering and turn off the cameras and mobile phones.”

Bwar Media’s Rashad told CPJ that Zrar “attacked us in front of other security forces. All of us journalists opposed his attempt and were determined to cover.”

Zrar broke Rashad’s mobile phone, neck mic, and lighting kits, ending his livestream, the journalist said.

Shar Press correspondent Hazhar Anwar told CPJ that “the attacker was abusing us verbally and warning us not to cover and to leave the place, but we opposed him and were keen to cover.”

Anwar said the team’s cameraman continued covering the protests after Anwar’s mobile phone and tripod being broken.

Reached for comment over the phone, Zrar told CPJ, “I didn’t want to attack them but to talk to them, but I admit that I was uncontrollably furious. It was a misunderstanding, and I’m ready to explain if needed.”

Separately, on February 20, security guards at the Region Trade Bank in Erbil interrupted NRT TV’s live stream coverage of a crowd gathered in front of the bank to exchange Iraqi dinars for U.S. dollars at a rate of 1,320 dinars to the dollar, which compared with the official rate of 1,530 dinars to the dollar.

NRT TV correspondent Choman Mahmood, who was covering the crowd with cameraman Ahmed Mohammed, told CPJ via phone that the crew was forced to leave. “The bank’s guards asked me to quit interviewing people standing in long queues and to stop covering,” he said. “They pushed me backwards and forced me to stop.”

CPJ reached out to the bank for comment via phone, but they declined to comment.

Local press freedom organization Metro Center for Journalists’ Rights and Advocacy documented 431 violations committed against 301 journalists and media outlets in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2022, including physical attacks, detentions, and threats.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

The team, which consisted of Ahmed and two camera operators, Hevi Khalid and Bawar Rafiq, traveled to the border town of Tawella to report on cross-border smuggling with Iran, according to that report, which said the team had received permission to report from the Iraqi Kurdish Asayish intelligence agency and was accompanied by an Asayish agent at the time they were detained.

While they were filming, an armed masked man in civilian clothes shouted at the crew to stop recording and pointed a gun at Ahmed and Khalid, Ahmed told CPJ. Minutes later, four or five additional armed men arrived at the scene, followed by an Iraqi border guard vehicle, Ahmed said. The border authorities detained the crew and the Asayish agent and took them to the border control headquarters in Byara district.

“They investigated us, asked why we are doing the report, and searched our cameras,” Ahmed said, adding that the border guards “emphasized” that the crew should not report on kolbars, or laborers who transport goods across borders.

Khalid told CPJ via phone that the crew had recorded some footage but hid those recordings from the border guards by swapping out their cameras’ memory cards with spare ones. When the guards asked them to erase any recordings, the crew showed them the empty memory cards.

The team was released after the intervention of the Halabja governor, the mayor of the city of Halabja, and a member of a local press freedom group, according to Ahmed.

Khalid told CPJ that the border guards asked the team to sign a pledge not to report from that area in the future, but they refused.

Ibrahim Muhammed, regiment commander of the second battalion of the Iraqi border guards, told CPJ via phone that the team was required to coordinate with the border authorities and not the Asayish to report from that area.

“Any media coverage at borderlines is forbidden, unless they get a formal permission letter from our main headquarter in Sulaymaniyah,” he said.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

The children were running around the yard playing games next to the family car, when Ashwaq Abdel Kareem heard the roar of a jet plane that foretold an airstrike.

It was near midnight on June 1, 2015. Ashwaq, her husband, and five children were in the backyard of their half-built house in the northern Iraqi town of Hawija. The night sweltered with an oven-like dry heat during an Iraqi summer in which temperatures could soar to 120 degrees in the daytime. Hawija was under ISIS occupation, which meant the entire town had been cut off from electricity, in addition to the general brutality of political rule by the radical group. There was no escape from the temperature except to go outside where a breeze might cool the air.

Far above Ashwaq and her family, a Dutch F-16 fighter jet released a bomb that whistled down to hit a car-bomb factory in the center of Hawija’s industrial district. The F-16’s mission was coordinated by the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS and was planned by the U.S. military. From 2014 to the present day, between 8,000 and 13,000 civilians have died as a result of bombing by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, according to the monitoring organization Airwars; the coalition only acknowledges the deaths of 1,417 civilians. At the height of the bombing in 2017, as the coalition bombed tightly packed urban areas like Mosul, at least 9,000 civilians died, according to The Associated Press. Yet only one civilian received compensation, although the U.S. military did distribute a limited number of condolence or “ex gratia” payments — which are voluntary payments and not an admission of legal liability — reportedly to the families of around 14 victims.

ISIS had stored an estimated 18,000 kilograms of explosives in the factory, which stood in the midst of a crowded neighborhood. Even though the strike targeted a bomb-making factory, Pentagon planners did not factor in the casualties that could be caused by the secondary detonations. When the bomb hit the factory, night turned into day. Residents of Hawija likened it to a nuclear explosion. The earth rippled and waves of shrapnel flew through the air, tearing into people’s flesh. Buildings collapsed into rubble. The air turned yellow from the fire and chemicals, and the midnight sky lit up as though it were the middle of the afternoon. Fifty kilometers away, in the city of Kirkuk, people said they felt the ground shake, according to a report on the bombing by the Dutch monitoring organization PAX.

Ashwaq’s home shuddered, the windows shattered, and bricks and masonry crashed to the ground. The pressure and the heat caused the gasoline in the family car to catch fire, and the vehicle exploded just as Ashwaq’s children ran past. The flaming gas from the car struck her 4-year-old son Omar across the face and lit his head on fire like the tip of a match. Omar’s father, Ahmed Abdallah al-Jamili, says he has the image of his son running, his head aflame, engraved in his mind. He and Ashwaq both thought that Omar would die. The couple rushed the child to the nearest hospital in a neighbor’s car. They could barely see as they drove streets fogged with acrid chemical smoke from still-raging fires.

The explosion killed at least 85 people, but the actual number is likely much higher, though impossible to verify. ISIS controlled the hospital and often refused to treat people who were not ISIS sympathizers, let alone issue death certificates. Additionally, Hawija was a way station for people who had been displaced by the war took as they fled ISIS territory to Kurdistan. Many internally displaced families had gathered in the industrial area, and uncounted people were killed when the factory was hit. Their deaths were not recorded because there was no one to identify them. PAX — which has done extensive research into the bombing — recently uncovered the existence of two mass graves, but they were unable to visit the sites and verify the number of bodies.

Even as it slowly became clear that the U.S. coalition was responsible for what happened, the needs of the victims and survivors were placed last because, for the countries responsible for the carnage, the most important priority was avoiding accountability. Families were forced to hear vague mentions of aid without ever being consulted about what they actually wanted and needed. Now, seven years later, a visit to Hawija shows how the crumbs of help that were eventually promised have apparently not been delivered to any useful extent for the victims.

Local workers rebuild the shops that got destroyed after the 2015 Dutch airstrikes in Hawija, Iraq, on Aug. 28, 2022.

Photo: Hawre Khalid for The Intercept

“The international organizations are like a big box. Money goes to guards, hotels, and a very small part goes to the people affected.”

The salaries paid by IOM are not going to the families who were bombed.

A young man passes by the spot where a Dutch airstrike hit in 2015 in Hawija, Iraq, on Aug. 8, 2022.

Photo: Hawre Khalid for The Intercept

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Omer Ahmed, now 11 years old, sits on the couch at his family’s home on Aug. 28, 2022, in Hawija, Iraq.

Photo: Hawre Khalid for The Intercept

Yusra Khalaf, 20, was only 12 when a Dutch bomb struck her family’s home, permanently damaging her right arm.

Photo: Hawre Khalid for The Intercept

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Pesha Magid.

On Sunday, October 9, officers from the Kurdistan Special Counter-Terrorism group arrested Qashqayi, the editor-in-chief of the privately owned agency Bwar News, and Ali, the senior editor of Bwar News, on the Sulaymaniyah-Erbil main road while the journalists were traveling to the capital Erbil from the eastern city of Sulaymaniyah after a reporting trip, according to news reports and statements from Bwar News and two local press freedom groups. The counter-terrorism group is affiliated with the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party. 

The journalists were arrested after two criminal complaints were made against them, according to those sources. One of the complaints was made by the counter-terrorism group against both journalists, however, CPJ could not confirm further details about the complaint.

The other, a lawsuit, was filed by Awat Sheikh Janab, minister of finance and economy of the Kurdistan region, against Qashqayi, according to those sources. The lawsuit, filed on June 8, alleges that Qashqayi violated Article 2 of the penal code for misuse of communication devices after Bwar News published a report on Janab, according to an official at the Ministry of Finance and Economy for the Kurdistan region, who spoke to CPJ by phone on the condition of anonymity, saying they’re not allowed to comment publicly.

If convicted, the journalist faces a sentence of up to five years imprisonment and a fine between 1 and 5 million Iraqi dinars (US$685 and $3,425). 

The Bwar News report, published on April 28, alleged that two senior officials of the Kurdistan Democratic Party visited Janab at his home and threatened to “publish his secrets” if he didn’t end his boycott of meetings of Iraqi Kurdistan’s council of ministers after being blamed for the region’s financial crisis. The ministry official who declined to give their name told CPJ that the allegations are “totally baseless.” CPJ called Janab several times but did not receive any response.

“Iraqi Kurdistan authorities are making a very alarming habit out of detaining journalists,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Security forces must free Bwar News’ journalists immediately and stop arresting journalists for doing their jobs.”

The journalists stayed in solitary confinement for one night and were then transferred, on Monday, to Asayish security forces and moved to Asayish prison, according to a representative of Bwar News, who spoke to CPJ by phone but said they could not give their name because of company policy.

The journalists had not been informed of the complaints against them before their arrest, according to that source and Badriya Ismael, an Iraqi Kurdistan parliament member, who joined several others in visiting the journalists in prison on Monday and spoke to CPJ by phone. “Asayish authorities didn’t tell us anything about the nature of the complaints,” Ismael said, adding that the case is still under investigation and the journalists are in good health. 

CPJ emailed the office of the Kurdistan Special Counter-Terrorism group and called Yasin Sami, the spokesperson of Sulaymaniyah Asayish security forces, and Sarkawt Ahmed, the spokesperson of Sulaymaniyah police, but did not receive any responses.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, Soran Kamaran, a correspondent for the Kurdistan 24 broadcaster owned by Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, was seriously wounded while covering Iran’s ongoing shelling on Kurdish groups opposed to Iran, according to reports, video of the shelling and Kamaran’s transfer to the hospital, a statement by the broadcaster, a local press freedom group, and Kurdistan 24’s newsroom manager.

Kamaran was injured by a missile strike in the town of Altun Kupri, in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. The cameraman with him was not hurt, Kurdistan 24’s newsroom manager and anchor, Kovan Izzat, told CPJ by phone. 

Kurdistan 24 said in a statement that Kamaran was taken to Erbil emergency hospital for treatment and admitted to an intensive care unit. “Soran underwent two surgeries for his right leg and belly. He is fine now and no threat to his life,” Izzat told CPJ. “He was wounded severely, his right leg was broken with injuries all over his belly.” Izzat did not know how long Kamaran is expected to be in the hospital.

“Iran’s drone strikes inevitably cause civilian casualties, including those of journalists documenting the attacks,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Iranian and Kurdish authorities must take serious measures to avoid harming civilians and to hold anyone violating international law accountable.”

Kamaran’s last video, posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, September 28, shows him reporting from the area in which he was injured. In the video, he says, “This is the headquarters of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, which have been targeted by Iranian missiles and suicide drones. Initial reports indicate that six members were killed and dozens injured.”

On Saturday, September 24, 2022, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps fired dozens of suicide drones and missiles to strike several Iranian-Kurdish opposition parties based in the Kurdistan region, killing at least nine and injuring over 30 others, according to multiple media reports.

On Wednesday, September 28, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq called to “cease immediately” its attacks on Iraq, including Kurdistan, in a tweet.

CPJ could not immediately find a contact for Kamaran’s family. CPJ emailed the Iranian U.N. mission for comment on Wednesday, September 28, but did not immediately receive a response.

Later on Wednesday, in the same town of Altun Kupri, a Peshmerga soldier confiscated the camera of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)-owned Kurdsat News broadcaster cameraman Issa Nuradeen, according to Nuradeen, a Facebook video of the incident posted by the broadcaster, and a report by a local press freedom group.

Nuradeen and Kurdsat News reporter Karwan Mohammed told CPJ over the phone that they returned to the Kurdistan Freedom Party headquarters to help Kamaran. “When we got there, the (Kurdish) Peshmerga forces were putting him into an ambulance. I tried to film but they blocked me and took my camera,” Nuradeen said. “They later returned it broken.”

Mohammed, who filmed the camera confiscation on his mobile phone, said the Peshmerga soldier who took the camera “told us we are not allowed to cover the situation.”

CPJ on Wednesday, September 28, called Nuri Hama Ali, a Peshmerga commander in Kirkuk, for comment, but did not immediately get a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Earlier that day, a drone attack targeted a group of fighters with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in the Soran village of Tarawa, killing two and injuring others, according to a local news report.

Kaifi told CPJ that he and a friend attempted to pass through a checkpoint manned by Asayish intelligence agents to cover the incident, but the officers would not allow them to enter “and said that I can’t cover it.” He told the security forces that he had a right to cover the incident and asked why some journalists were given access, but they continued to deny him entry to the area, he said.

At about 10:30 p.m. that evening, as Kaifi was preparing to do a live broadcast nearly 2 kilometers away, two vehicles carrying Asayish agents approached him, confiscated his phone and tripod, and handcuffed and arrested him, Kaifi said. The agents took Kaifi to the Asayish station in Khalifan district, and then to the Asayish headquarters in the city of Soran, where they put him in solitary confinement, he said.

“I told them many times that I didn’t do anything wrong, I am only a journalist,” he told CPJ, saying the agents did not listen to his pleas. Agents held Kaifi in solitary confinement until about 2 p.m. on September 6, and then brought him back to the Khalifan Asayish station, he said.

At that station, agents asked Kaifi to sign a pledge stating that he would not cover such incidents “without Asayish pre-coordination,” he told CPJ. Asayish agents told Kaifi that other journalists complied with such regulations, he said, adding that he told them that he was not aware of any such rules.

“They told me, either you sign this pledge, or I will stay at the prison,” Kaifi said, adding that he signed the pledge and was released.

Ismail Ibrahim, head of the Soran branch of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate union, told CPJ in a phone interview that his group told Asayish authorities that there was “no need” to arrest members of the press for such alleged regulatory violations, and said that his organization asked the Asayish to give them a report on the reason for Kaifi’s arrest.

NRT newsroom manager Mariwan Hassan told CPJ in a phone interview that it was “not fair” that Asayish forces “block our staff” from covering news in the area while other news groups were allowed to do so. He added that NRT news crews are facing a “huge” amount of pressure from Erbil officials, especially in Soran.

CPJ contacted Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed for comment via messaging app, but did not receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On Monday, August 29, Iraqi security forces arrested, assaulted, or confiscated equipment from journalists with local and international outlets covering protests in Baghdad, the capital, according to the journalists and their colleagues, who spoke with CPJ, and reports by their outlets.

Separately, on Tuesday, a mortar shell injured at least two journalists covering armed clashes in the city.

“Iraqi forces have displayed a startling disregard for the safety of civilians and journalists covering protests in Baghdad since August 29,” said CPJ Senior Middle East and North Africa Researcher Justin Shilad. “Iraqi authorities must stop assaulting and detaining journalists, allow them to work freely, and ensure that members of the country’s security forces who attack members of the press are identified and held to account.”

Protests broke out in Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to government institutions and foreign embassies, by supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on August 29 after he announced his decision to retire from politics, according to news reports. Authorities later declared a curfew in Baghdad.

During those protests, Iraqi Special Forces arrested reporter Rokan Jaf and camera operator Gailan Sabah while they covered security forces’ dispersal of the demonstrations for the privately owned Kurdish media outlet Zoom News, according to a Facebook post by the outlet and Jaf, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.

“Once they knew I (was) a journalist, they caught me immediately,” Jaf told CPJ, adding that he identified the members of the special forces by their black uniforms. Four Special Forces agents punched and kicked Jaf, took his phone and Sabah’s camera, and detained them both, he said.

After protestors were cleared from the area, authorities released Sabah and Jaf and returned Jaf’s phone but not Sabah’s camera, according to Jaf and Zoom News director Hemn Mahmood, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Jaf told CPJ he was not seriously injured in the incident.

Also during those protests on August 29, security forces in black uniforms assaulted Haider al-Badri, a reporter for the privately owned news channel UTV, and attempted to seize a camera from his camera operator Adulmalik Faisal, according to the Iraqi press freedom advocacy group Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) and a video posted to UTV’s Facebook page.

CPJ was unable to immediately determine whether al-Badri was injured during the incident.

Authorities also briefly detained a team with the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, including reporter Samir Yousif and seven others, according to a video Yousif posted on Twitter, a report by the outlet, and a journalist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ by messaging app on the condition they not be named because they did not have permission to speak to the press. Authorities let them go after smashing the window of their car, taking their camera, and breaking it in front of them.

Security forces wearing black masks and unmarked uniforms also assaulted Ammar Ghassan, a reporter for the privately owned satellite channel Al-Rasheed TV, and his colleagues while they covered authorities’ dispersal of the protests, according to a video on the broadcaster’s Facebook page and a report by news website Baghdad Today.

In that video, Ghassan showed a bruise on his shoulder that he said was the result of the attack.

“Seven armed security forces came to us. They knew we were a TV channel crew and beat us,” he said. “They also took our mic, camera, and live stream device and destroyed my mobile phone.” CPJ was unable to immediately determine how many Al-Rasheed TV journalists were injured in the incident.

CPJ is also investigating posts on social media by Associated Press photographer Hadi Mizban, who said Iraqi security forces attacked him and took his camera and ID, and by the privately owned Iraqi news outlet Fallujah TV, which wrote that its correspondent Saif Ali was “seriously injured” while covering the protests.

CPJ messaged Mizban and Fallujah TV on Facebook to seek more details on those incidents but did not immediately receive any replies.

Yehia Rasool, a spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, who oversees the special forces, told CPJ via messaging app that the armed forces were investigating reports of special forces attacking journalists in the Green Zone, and said they would not allow such attacks to be repeated.

Separately, on Tuesday, Mustafa Latif and Kamil Raad, reporters for the privately owned Iraqi satellite channel Dijla TV, were injured by mortar fire while reporting on armed demonstrators clashing with security forces in the aftermath of the protests, according to a Facebook post from their outlet, a JFO report, and Latif, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. 

Latif told CPJ that he was injured by shrapnel in his face, Raad was hit by shrapnel in his leg, and they were both taken to the Al-Kadhimiya Hospital for treatment. Latif said he did not know the source of the mortar fire.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Monday, August 29, Iraqi security forces arrested, assaulted, or confiscated equipment from journalists with local and international outlets covering protests in Baghdad, the capital, according to the journalists and their colleagues, who spoke with CPJ, and reports by their outlets.

Separately, on Tuesday, a mortar shell injured at least two journalists covering armed clashes in the city.

“Iraqi forces have displayed a startling disregard for the safety of civilians and journalists covering protests in Baghdad since August 29,” said CPJ Senior Middle East and North Africa Researcher Justin Shilad. “Iraqi authorities must stop assaulting and detaining journalists, allow them to work freely, and ensure that members of the country’s security forces who attack members of the press are identified and held to account.”

Protests broke out in Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to government institutions and foreign embassies, by supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on August 29 after he announced his decision to retire from politics, according to news reports. Authorities later declared a curfew in Baghdad.

During those protests, Iraqi Special Forces arrested reporter Rokan Jaf and camera operator Gailan Sabah while they covered security forces’ dispersal of the demonstrations for the privately owned Kurdish media outlet Zoom News, according to a Facebook post by the outlet and Jaf, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.

“Once they knew I (was) a journalist, they caught me immediately,” Jaf told CPJ, adding that he identified the members of the special forces by their black uniforms. Four Special Forces agents punched and kicked Jaf, took his phone and Sabah’s camera, and detained them both, he said.

After protestors were cleared from the area, authorities released Sabah and Jaf and returned Jaf’s phone but not Sabah’s camera, according to Jaf and Zoom News director Hemn Mahmood, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Jaf told CPJ he was not seriously injured in the incident.

Also during those protests on August 29, security forces in black uniforms assaulted Haider al-Badri, a reporter for the privately owned news channel UTV, and attempted to seize a camera from his camera operator Adulmalik Faisal, according to the Iraqi press freedom advocacy group Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) and a video posted to UTV’s Facebook page.

CPJ was unable to immediately determine whether al-Badri was injured during the incident.

Authorities also briefly detained a team with the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, including reporter Samir Yousif and seven others, according to a video Yousif posted on Twitter, a report by the outlet, and a journalist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ by messaging app on the condition they not be named because they did not have permission to speak to the press. Authorities let them go after smashing the window of their car, taking their camera, and breaking it in front of them.

Security forces wearing black masks and unmarked uniforms also assaulted Ammar Ghassan, a reporter for the privately owned satellite channel Al-Rasheed TV, and his colleagues while they covered authorities’ dispersal of the protests, according to a video on the broadcaster’s Facebook page and a report by news website Baghdad Today.

In that video, Ghassan showed a bruise on his shoulder that he said was the result of the attack.

“Seven armed security forces came to us. They knew we were a TV channel crew and beat us,” he said. “They also took our mic, camera, and live stream device and destroyed my mobile phone.” CPJ was unable to immediately determine how many Al-Rasheed TV journalists were injured in the incident.

CPJ is also investigating posts on social media by Associated Press photographer Hadi Mizban, who said Iraqi security forces attacked him and took his camera and ID, and by the privately owned Iraqi news outlet Fallujah TV, which wrote that its correspondent Saif Ali was “seriously injured” while covering the protests.

CPJ messaged Mizban and Fallujah TV on Facebook to seek more details on those incidents but did not immediately receive any replies.

Yehia Rasool, a spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, who oversees the special forces, told CPJ via messaging app that the armed forces were investigating reports of special forces attacking journalists in the Green Zone, and said they would not allow such attacks to be repeated.

Separately, on Tuesday, Mustafa Latif and Kamil Raad, reporters for the privately owned Iraqi satellite channel Dijla TV, were injured by mortar fire while reporting on armed demonstrators clashing with security forces in the aftermath of the protests, according to a Facebook post from their outlet, a JFO report, and Latif, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. 

Latif told CPJ that he was injured by shrapnel in his face, Raad was hit by shrapnel in his leg, and they were both taken to the Al-Kadhimiya Hospital for treatment. Latif said he did not know the source of the mortar fire.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On August 10, United States President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, aiding approximately 3.5 million American veterans with severe medical conditions linked to toxic exposure to burn pits during service, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. Open air pits of military waste, sometimes as large as football fields, are burned to destroy munitions, chemicals, plastics, and medical and human waste, typically using jet fuel. Used widely until at least 2010, burn pits were still permitted at least as of last year, when waste management facilities were not available.

Where is equivalent acknowledgment—and compensation—for Iraqi civilians, who have no escape from the kind of toxic surroundings the act aims to address for injured US veterans?

Their impact, however, extends beyond the harm to those who were deployed and exposed to toxins in the short term. Fatal cancers. Birth defects that can cause infant death or lifelong disabilities. Malformations including a missing hand, cleft lip and paralysed club foot. Anencephaly—an underdeveloped brain and incomplete skull. These are just some of the devastating conditions plaguing Iraqi civilians following toxic exposure from the 2003 US invasion and occupation and 1991 Gulf War.

How is this a fair price for civilians to pay for simply residing in their homes while the US "war on terror" forcibly exposed them to burn pits and depleted uranium? When will the US fulfill international law obligations to compensate them for the toxic war zones that its military has left behind?

Biden's signing last week was filled with fanfare and applause, and a moving appearance by the wife and young child of the late Ohio veteran in whose honour the act is named (full title: the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act). Indeed, the legislation is welcome: It covers numerous cancers and lung conditions, and marks progress toward addressing dire suffering similar to that of Vietnam veterans who were unjustly neglected (PDF) following Agent Orange exposure. In fact, the PACT Act addresses Agent Orange—47 years after that war's end.

Biden said this is "the least we can do" for veterans. Where is equivalent acknowledgment—and compensation—for Iraqi civilians, who have no escape from the kind of toxic surroundings the act aims to address for injured US veterans?

Benefit of doubt

Many of those paying the highest price are Iraqi infants born two decades after the start of the "war on terror". According to Dutch peace organisation PAX, more than 780,000 rounds of depleted uranium were fired in 1991, and more than 300,000 rounds in 2003.

The PACT Act provides "presumptive conditions" benefits that remove the burden of proof. Instead, veterans will be presumed eligible according to dates and locations of service. Previously, nearly four in five burn pits-connected Veterans Affairs (VA) claims were rejected.

This same benefit of the doubt must be extended to Iraqis through a presumptive benefits-style programme. The US must not delay clean-up and compensation for decades, as with Vietnam. There is more than enough data to justify reparations. Petty, minutiae-rooted arguments can be used to fixate on documentation of the precise dates and nature of civilians' toxic exposure. Yet, there is ample evidence of what I call "toxic saturation"—the long-term, undeniable, accumulative encounters of Iraqi civilians with a variety of deadly toxins. As Iraqi novelist and poet Sinan Antoon asks: "Do we breathe to live? Or do we breathe to die?"

The law is clear. Article 91 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions says that violators of international humanitarian law are "liable to pay compensation." The Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD) forbids military "environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects as the means of destruction, damage or injury."

There are abundant international regulations that are in conflict with US actions regarding toxins. Article 55 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions prohibits means of warfare that damage the environment and "prejudice the health or survival of the population". The Rio Declaration calls for states to "develop national law regarding liability and compensation" for victims of environmental damage.

Members of the US Congress were not concerned with international law, however, when finally compensating veterans. They acted once they could not resist pressure any longer. US leaders likely fear that compensation would admit US culpability for Iraqi civilians' injuries. The harm caused, however, is obvious and must be remedied.

History repeats

Sadly, Washington's track record doesn't inspire optimism.

The US left Vietnam veterans in the cold, before finally providing presumptive benefits and benefits for Agent Orange-linked birth defects in veterans' children. The US Court of Appeals ruled against Vietnamese people who sought to hold Dow Chemical, Monsanto and other companies accountable. The court justified this partly on the basis that dioxin was a defoliant to clear foliage, not intended to harm humans.

The US has spent roughly $400m to address Agent Orange's environmental and health effects. USAID and Vietnam's government have a 10-year plan costing up to $500m to clean Bien Hoa Air Base. A smaller amount, $14.5m annually, was allocated for health and disability programmes.

If this numbers game seems a bit obscure, this is because there have been many parcelled-out allocations of funding, none of which have fully ameliorated harm to Vietnam's people. This becomes clearer when considered in relation to the US military budget of $753bn.

These precedents prove that US-funded clean-ups are possible, even as they underscore the grossly inadequate nature of projects to address the horrific, multigenerational effects of dioxin. Cancer and other crushing illnesses plague Vietnam's survivors and their children.

The bad news? History is not simply repeating. Conditions are worsening as new benchmarks are continually set for how bad things can get.

As Vietnamese-American writer and professor Viet Thanh Nguyen writes, we can forgive the atrocities of the past but "the present is not yet finished. The present, perhaps, is always unforgivable."

Way forward

When the Senate finally passed the PACT Act, it was in spite of Republicans who refused to support it—which was seen as retaliation for Democratic legislation on climate and healthcare. This dysfunction regarding compensating veterans provides a glimpse into how antagonistic many US lawmakers would be towards an Iraqi reparations proposal.

The US must take responsibility for toxins used by the military, and by for-profit contractors. Yet abandoning civilians abroad is horrifically consistent with the US approach to environmental racism domestically. Environmental injustice disproportionately impacts US minority communities who often live in sacrifice zones.

These realities make for an uphill struggle, though not an impossible one. The US's recognition of veterans, while ignoring Iraqis, reveals a segregated outlook on justice. The public needs to stand in solidarity with victims of the "war on terror". The US government must expeditiously provide reparations to Iraqis and fulfill international law obligations.

Anything less is environmental racism, and a dangerously hierarchical approach to justice.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Carly A. Krakow.

On August 5 and August 6, Asayish security forces in several locations in Iraqi Kurdistan interfered with the work of at least 20 journalists and media workers with detentions, harassment, raids, and the closure of at least one media outlet, according to multiple news reports, local press freedom groups Kurdistan Journalists’ Syndicate, the Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy, and the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq, and several journalists affected who spoke to CPJ. 

All of the journalists were covering or preparing to cover demonstrations on August 6 by the opposition party New Generation Movement over taxes, fuel prices, and employment opportunities, according to those sources. 

“Authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan have reached a new low with their detention and harassment of reporters and media workers seeking to cover civil unrest,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator Sherif Mansour, in Washington, D.C. “Iraqi Kurdistan was once a haven for the free press in the Middle East but now the region is a prime perpetrator of press freedom violations.” 

On Friday, August 5, the day before the demonstrations, security forces detained Taif Goran and Biryar Nerwayi, reporters at privately owned television broadcaster NRT, in front of the channel’s office in the city of Duhok in western Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the broadcaster’s report, and Goran, who spoke to CPJ on the phone. Goran told CPJ that “the security forces didn’t tell us any legal reason behind our arrest” and that the two were released without charge on bail after 27 hours in custody. Goran said that the forces also confiscated equipment from the office including five cameras, two livestream boxes, five microphones, and two tripods, which were all returned when the journalists were released.

NRT is owned by the Kurdish businessman Shaswar Abdulwahid, the leader of the New Generation Movement, who called for the protests.

On Saturday August 6, Asayish forces raided the privately owned website and TV outlet Rast Media office in the city of Duhok and shut it down without giving any reasons, according to the outlet’s Facebook post and Omed Baroshky, director of Rast News, who spoke to CPJ on the phone. Baroshky told CPJ that “we have completed all the legal procedures to work freely as a media outlet, but they asked us to shut it down and go home anyway.” As of August 9, the office has remained closed. 

On the same day at 10:00 a.m. in Erbil, the regional capital, five plainclothes security officers raided the home of Ayub Ali Warty, a reporter at broadcaster Kurdish News Network, which is affiliated with the opposition Gorran party, and detained the journalist, according to Warty, who spoke to CPJ over the phone and posted about the incident on Facebook. The officers escorted him to Asayish headquarters for investigation before releasing him at midnight, he said. Warty said he was verbally abused, but did not provide details of the insults. 

“During the investigation, I was told that if I want to live as a critical journalist, Erbil is not the right place,” he said. He said that he was forced to sign a blank paper without knowing the reason, and was told the paper “could put me in jail for 300 years.” When he was released without charge, Warty said the officers told him he was arrested “by mistake.” 

Also on Saturday in Erbil, NRT reporters Rizgar Kochar, Omed Chomani, and Hersh Qadir were detained by officers in plain clothes, according to two videos posted on Facebook by the broadcaster and Qadir, who told CPJ via phone that the officers also raided his home. Qadir said they were arrested in front of their office, and when they asked about the officers’ identity “they stressed that they are Asayish forces and we have to go with them.” He said the officers turned the journalists over to armed security forces who placed them in hoods and took them to the Asayish headquarters in Erbil. He said he believes that “the only reason was to prevent us from covering the demonstrations.” Qadir said the three were released without charge after six hours and after they were forced to sign documents without being allowed to read them. 

Also on Saturday, NRT reporters Diyar Mohammed and Soran Mohammed and NRT cameraman Mahmoud Razgar were arrested by security forces while covering a protest in the town of Chamchamal, in Sulaymaniyah governorate in eastern Iraqi Kurdistan, according to a Facebook post by the broadcaster and Soran Mohammed, who spoke to CPJ on the phone. Soran Mohammed told CPJ that security forces blocked the crew’s camera, ordered the journalists to go with them to their headquarters in the city, and seized their equipment including two cameras, one tripod, and two microphones. The officers told the journalists that they would remain in custody until the demonstrations were dispersed, he said. The three were released without charge three hours later, but the officers kept their equipment until Sunday, he said. 

On the same day in the city of Sulaymaniyah, a crew with independent news website Westga News, made up of chief editor and owner Sirwan Gharib, photographer Zanyar Mariwan, and editors Hevar Hiwa and Arkan Jabar, was arrested by security forces while covering demonstrations, according to a Westga News statement and Gharib, who spoke to CPJ via phone call. In the statement, Westga News said “the team was there to cover the demonstrations in an impartial and professional manner, and their arrest is against the laws and freedom of the press.” Gharib said the crew was detained for almost four hours before it was released without charge. 

In the same city on Saturday, Zhilya Ali, reporter for the privately owned internet television channel and news website Diplomatic, was detained with the outlet’s cameraman Azhi Abdulqadir the moment they stepped out of a taxi when they arrived to cover a protest, Ali told CPJ via phone. In a Facebook post, Ali said the two were arrested and brought to Asayish headquarters in order “to be prevented from covering the demonstrations.” Ali told CPJ that the security forces confiscated her phone, which they returned after she and the cameraman were released without charge two hours later. 

Also on Saturday, Hardi Osman, reporter for the independent website Peregraph was detained for five hours while he was trying to cover the protests in Sulaymaniyah city, according to a tweet by his employer and the reporter who spoke to CPJ over the phone. He said that the forces took him to Asayish headquarters before transferring him to a section of Kani Goma prison. 

He said that the forces also seized his equipment, including his phone, his microphone, and a voice recorder, and forced him to fill out a form asking “very personal questions” — details of which he did not provide to CPJ — before he was released without charge and without the equipment. He said he retrieved the equipment from Asayish headquarters on Tuesday.

Also in Sulaymaniyah city on Saturday, Awder Omer, video reporter for news website NasKurd, was covering a protest live on the website’s Facebook page when two members of the Asayish forces seized his phone and confiscated and broke his mobile internet modem, he told CPJ via phone. “They told me to leave and not cover the protests,” he said. 

On the same day in the city of Kalar, in Sulaymaniyah governorate Mohammed Mahmood, reporter for the independent broadcaster Radio Deng, was detained by security forces while covering a protest and held for five hours before he was released without charge, according to a Facebook post by the radio station and Mahmood, who spoke to CPJ via phone. 

Mahmood said that security forces interrupted his reporting on Facebook Live for Radio Deng and asked him to delete his footage. When he refused, he said they beat him on his legs and arms and took him to Asayish headquarters, where they asked him to sign a paper which they would not allow him to read. When he refused again, he said they beat him again. 

On Saturday also in Sulaymaniyah, journalist Snur Karim and camera operator Mohammed Azad Majeed of the U.S.-Congress funded Voice of America Kurdish were detained by Asayish security forces for two hours while covering a protest on Facebook Live for the outlet, according to an email from Voice of America public relations officer Anna Morris and a VOA statement provided to CPJ. 

In the statement, VOA said the team had received permission from local authorities to report there but was detained for “several hours.” Their mobile phones and microphone were seized and later returned, Morris said. 

Morris told CPJ the two were taken to a prison where Karim was forced to sign a “pledge” without being allowed to read it and was asked personal questions about her family, car, lifestyle, and political views. 

When contacted by CPJ via messaging app for comment on the arrests, raids, closures, and alleged beatings, Sulaymaniyah governorate Asayish security forces spokesperson Yasin Sami directed CPJ to a Facebook post by the Sulaymaniyah security directorate, a committee representing local government, police, and Asayish forces, denying the arrests. CPJ called Duhok Asayish director Zeravan Baroshku who said security forces were acting on a “court order” but would not comment further. CPJ also contacted Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed for comment via messaging app and phone call, but didn’t receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Military veterans and their supporters camped out in front of the U.S. Capitol for close to a week after Republican senators withdrew their support for a major expansion of health care for veterans exposed to toxic “burn pits” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Formally titled, “The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022,” the PACT Act targets the Pentagon’s reliance on burn pits for disposing of the vast amounts of waste produced during the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Plumes of polluted smoke and particulates from the burn pits injured up to an estimated 3.5 million U.S. service members over the past two decades.

The scars of the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are deep, spanning decades. We will never know how many millions were killed or injured.

After blocking the bill, Senate Republicans faced withering criticism from veterans and their supporters, including renowned comedian Jon Stewart. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little,” said Stewart, deadly serious, flanked by vets and families of veterans who died from the exposure.

Earlier, Stewart assailed the Republicans:

“Ain’t this a bitch? America’s heroes, who fought in our wars, outside, sweating their asses off, with oxygen, battling all kinds of ailments, while these motherf*****s sit in the air conditioning, walled off from any of it. They don’t have to hear it. They don’t have to see it.”

Stewart wept after the Senate finally passed the bill.

Burn pits were used to dispose of everything from trash, tires, paint and other volatile organic solvents, batteries, unexploded ordnance, petroleum products, plastics, and medical waste, including body parts. These constantly burning dumps were often sited adjacent to barracks. Little or no protective gear was provided for impacted soldiers.

“Burn pits are massive incineration fields, sometimes as big as football fields, but there were many smaller ones throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, as well,” Purdue University anthropology professor Kali Rubaii said on the Democracy Now! news hour.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has identified a slew of cancers related to burn pit exposure, along with skin problems, asthma, bronchitis, respiratory, pulmonary and cardiovascular problems, migraines and other neurological conditions.

These illnesses could have been prevented. The military typically used jet or diesel fuel to burn everything, creating far more pollution than high-temperature incinerators. But using incinerators would have cost more money. Waste disposal was handled by the military contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root, or KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton. Halliburton’s CEO prior to 2001 was Dick Cheney. Cheney then became U.S. Vice President and was a key architect of the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. KBR received no-bid contracts to handle an array of logistics for the wars, including waste disposal. KBR chose cheap and dirty burn pits, maximizing profits.

“War is a racket,” retired U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler wrote in 1935. Butler was a career Marine, admitting, in a 1931 speech, “I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers,” Butler said. “I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”

The close to $700 billion appropriated in the PACT ACT for the next ten years will help alleviate some suffering caused by Halliburton’s war profiteering, but only for U.S. victims. It won’t do a thing for the people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Veterans saw acute, short-term exposure to burn pits at peak health, at the prime of their lives,” Kali Rubaii, who recently returned from the heavily war-impacted Iraqi city of Fallujah, said. “Iraqis faced long-term, diffuse exposure at all stages of the life course, so the health effects were varied and widespread. Living near U.S. bases in Iraq, and therefore near burn pits, increased the likelihood of giving birth to a child with a birth defect or of getting cancer.

“Burn pits are not the biggest figure of environmental and health harm for Iraqis,” Professor Rabii elaborated. “They have also been facing military occupation, bombings, shootings, displacement and layers of military incursion by different occupation forces since the U.S. invasion. These things have all added up to collapse in public infrastructure that would be used to contend with the health effects of burn pits, poor overall health, and damaged conditions for farming and fishing.”

She concluded, “There is one really great way to avoid war-related injury, which is to not go [to war].”

The scars of the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are deep, spanning decades. We will never know how many millions were killed or injured. The United States bears responsibility, and owes the survivors reparations, no less than has been pledged, belatedly, to U.S. veterans.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Amy Goodman, Denis Moynihan.

On Saturday, July 30, three journalists with the privately owned Al-Mayadeen news broadcaster were injured while they covered protests in Baghdad’s Green Zone by supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, according to news reports and the journalists, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.

Security forces fired flash-bang grenades that hit Al-Mayadeen videographer Zaid Khaled Jomaa and reporter and Baghdad bureau chief Abdullah Badran; separately, riot police officers shoved videographer Abdullah Saad to the ground, injuring his ankle and leg, the journalists said.

“Iraqi authorities must protect journalists covering protests in Baghdad and allow them to report on the political situation in the country freely and safely,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa senior researcher, Justin Shilad, in New York. “Iraqi journalists have been doing essential work in adverse circumstances for years informing the public, and authorities must allow them to continue that work without fear.” 

Sadr supporters occupied the parliament building on July 27 and on July 30, and on Monday announced plans for wider protests throughout Iraq, according to news reports.

On Saturday, the Al-Mayadeen team was covering protesters’ attempt to enter parliament when security forces fired flash-bang grenades in an attempt to disperse the demonstrations; one of those grenades hit Badran in the back, and another hit Jomaa in his left leg, according to the journalists and video of the incident.

Saad told CPJ that he went to help his colleagues, but riot police officers blocked him and pushed him to the ground.

Badran and Jomaa told CPJ that they sustained bruising from being hit by the grenades, and noted that the projectiles had ricocheted off a concrete wall, which reduced their impact. Saad sprained his ankle and tore a ligament in his leg when he was pushed to the ground, according to the journalist a tweet by one of his colleagues.

All three journalists were taken to the Al-Karama hospital in Baghdad after the incident, they said. Saad told CPJ that doctors ordered him to rest for two weeks, which has prevented him from working.

Badran told CPJ that the team was clearly identifiable as press; in that video, he is seen holding a microphone when he is hit with the grenade. He added that he and Jomaa took cover when the police began firing tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and used water hoses against protesters, “but the officers were shooting from a very close range that we couldn’t escape being hit.”

The three journalists told CPJ they often faced such risks while reporting, and said that Iraqi security forces often failed to distinguish journalists from protesters.

CPJ emailed the Iraqi Ministry of Interior for comment, but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On the morning of Monday, August 1, members of the Asayish intelligence agency detained Tariq, a reporter for the local broadcaster NRT, and Ahmed, a camera operator for the outlet, while they were interviewing people about the region’s economy in the city of Sulaymaniyah, according to a statement by NRT and the broadcaster’s newsroom manager Mariwan Hassan, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Hassan told CPJ that the Asayish agents confiscated the journalists’ equipment and phones, and had not disclosed any reason for their arrests. That statement said the pair was arrested at the order of the Kurdistan region’s Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani “without any justification or court order.”

“Iraqi Kurdish authorities should immediately release NRT journalists Karzan Tariq and Chenar Ahmed, and refrain from filing any charges against them,” said CPJ senior researcher Yeganeh Rezaian. “Media workers must be allowed to interview members of the public without fear that they will be detained and harassed.”

Hassan told CPJ that Tariq and Ahmed “didn’t commit any crimes or violations, they were doing their journalistic work to get people’s opinions.” He added that this was “not the first time” that Asayish agents had detained employees of the broadcaster.

Iraqi Kurdish authorities previously arrested Tariq and raided NRT’s newsroom in Sulaymaniyah in 2020, as CPJ documented at the time.

NRT is owned by Shaswar Abdulwahid, a businessperson and leader of the opposition New Generation Party, according to news reports.

CPJ contacted Asayish spokesperson Yasin Sami via messaging app for comment, but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

In a July 14 tweet, Geerdink said she was detained on her way to Kobane, a Kurdish-majority town in Syria, near the Turkish border.

“I’m being deported from the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. I almost crossed the border into northeast Syria when suddenly [the] atmosphere changed, I was put in a car with police and brought to Erbil airport,” Geerdink wrote. In the tweet, she wrote that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “arm is long.”

Geerdink has worked in Kurdistan and Turkey for more than a decade, reporting on the plight of the Kurdish minority, including the banned Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), according to her website.

In September 2015, Turkey had deported Geerdink for allegedly aiding a “terrorist organization,” as CPJ reported at the time. In February 2015, she was charged in Turkey with allegedly “making propaganda” for the PKK and Union of Communities in Kurdistan, but was acquitted that April, as CPJ reported.

In another tweet, Geerdink wrote she was traveling for a “big story” for a Dutch magazine. She told CPJ via messaging app on July 14 that she was on assignment for De Groene Amsterdammer.

Geerdink told CPJ that the police who detained her “didn’t tell me anything” and said they had “no information” on the reason for her deportation.

“I had a letter from Groene Amsterdammer, I also had my national and international press card,” she told CPJ. “That was all needed to cross the border, everything was 100 percent in order.”

Geerdink said she got in touch with Hans Akerboom,Dutch Consul Generalfor the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in Erbil. “It was great he came to the airport, because I even didn’t ask for it,” she told CPJ. “The authorities told him that I was ‘persona non grata,’ but they never said something to me like that, they didn’t communicate with me.”

“The Dutch Consul General also told me that I was welcome to come to Kurdistan as a tourist but not as a journalist,” she said, adding, “Of course I don’t want to come as a tourist.”

Ahmed Hoshyar, general manager of Erbil International Airport, told CPJ via WhatsApp messaging app on July 14, that “there were some issues with her passport,” but refused to give further information. He urged CPJ to “talk to the Dutch ConsulGeneral, as he is aware of the case.”

Akerboom told CPJ via WhatsApp on July 14 that he didn’t “know the reason” why Geerdink was deported, adding only that it was “never mentioned.”

CPJ reached out to Jutyar Adil, the Kurdistan Region Government spokesperson, for comment via WhatsApp, but did not immediately receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

In a July 14 tweet, Geerdink said she was detained on her way to Kobane, a Kurdish-majority town in Syria, near the Turkish border.

“I’m being deported from the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. I almost crossed the border into northeast Syria when suddenly [the] atmosphere changed, I was put in a car with police and brought to Erbil airport,” Geerdink wrote. In the tweet, she wrote that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “arm is long.”

Geerdink has worked in Kurdistan and Turkey for more than a decade, reporting on the plight of the Kurdish minority, including the banned Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), according to her website.

In September 2015, Turkey had deported Geerdink for allegedly aiding a “terrorist organization,” as CPJ reported at the time. In February 2015, she was charged in Turkey with allegedly “making propaganda” for the PKK and Union of Communities in Kurdistan, but was acquitted that April, as CPJ reported.

In another tweet, Geerdink wrote she was traveling for a “big story” for a Dutch magazine. She told CPJ via messaging app on July 14 that she was on assignment for De Groene Amsterdammer.

Geerdink told CPJ that the police who detained her “didn’t tell me anything” and said they had “no information” on the reason for her deportation.

“I had a letter from Groene Amsterdammer, I also had my national and international press card,” she told CPJ. “That was all needed to cross the border, everything was 100 percent in order.”

Geerdink said she got in touch with Hans Akerboom,Dutch Consul Generalfor the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in Erbil. “It was great he came to the airport, because I even didn’t ask for it,” she told CPJ. “The authorities told him that I was ‘persona non grata,’ but they never said something to me like that, they didn’t communicate with me.”

“The Dutch Consul General also told me that I was welcome to come to Kurdistan as a tourist but not as a journalist,” she said, adding, “Of course I don’t want to come as a tourist.”

Ahmed Hoshyar, general manager of Erbil International Airport, told CPJ via WhatsApp messaging app on July 14, that “there were some issues with her passport,” but refused to give further information. He urged CPJ to “talk to the Dutch ConsulGeneral, as he is aware of the case.”

Akerboom told CPJ via WhatsApp on July 14 that he didn’t “know the reason” why Geerdink was deported, adding only that it was “never mentioned.”

CPJ reached out to Jutyar Adil, the Kurdistan Region Government spokesperson, for comment via WhatsApp, but did not immediately receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Monday, July 18, police arrested Warty, a reporter for the broadcaster KNN TV, while he was on a reporting trip in the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil, according to the journalist and his lawyer, Bashdar Hassan, both of whom spoke to CPJ in phone interviews.

Officers took Warty to a local court, where he was charged with criminal defamation; he was then brought back to the police station and released that evening on a bail of 2 million dinars (US$1,340), according to the journalist and his lawyer.

If convicted of defamation under Article 434 of the Iraqi penal code, he could face up to one year in prison, Hassan said, adding that no court date has been set for his case.

“Iraqi Kurdish authorities must immediately drop all criminal charges against journalist Ayub Ali Warty and cease harassing members of the press for their work,” said CPJ senior researcher Yeganeh Rezaian. “Criminal defamation statutes have no place in an open society, and Iraqi authorities should reform the country’s laws as soon as possible.”

KNN TV, or the Kurdish News Network, is a Kurdistan-based television and online news agency closely affiliated with Kurdistan’s opposition Change (Gorran) Movement party, as CPJ has documented.

Hassan told CPJ that Warty’s detention stemmed from a defamation complaint filed by a local plastic surgeon after the journalist used a YouTube video by that doctor to illustrate his reporting on alleged sexual assaults committed by unrelated doctors. CPJ was unable to find contact information for the surgeon who filed the complaint.

Hassan said that such defamation complaints were “normal and legal,” but that authorities should have accepted the complaint under the country’s Journalistic Law, which allows for defamation cases to be adjudicated without members of the press facing arrest.

Hassan also told CPJ that “we, a team of lawyers, will request the court to change the case into journalism law, otherwise, we will appeal the court’s decision.”

When CPJ called Erbil police spokesperson Hogr Aziz, he refused to comment on the record.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

CPJ is honored to present its 2022 International Press Freedom Award to Iraqi Kurdish journalist Niyaz Abdullah.

Niyaz Abdullah is a prominent Iraqi Kurdish freelance journalist. She regularly contributes to media outlets in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, including Radio Nawa, the broadcaster NRT, and the news websites Westga, Zhyan News Network, Hawlati, and Skurd, among others. 

Abdullah has covered politics, civil unrest, government corruption, human rights, and ethnic and religious minorities in Iraqi Kurdistan. In 2021, she covered the cases of Iraqi Kurdish journalists and civil society activists convicted on national security charges with flimsy evidence. 

Abdullah faced legal harassment by security forces and local authorities for criticizing Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s crackdown on press freedom and freedom of expression, and she was detained and threatened with violence over her work. In 2021, she fled to France to escape threats against her. 

Honoring Abdullah with this year’s IPFA offers a powerful recognition of her essential contributions to the coverage of Iraqi Kurdistan and her unfailing commitment to the ideals of a free and democratic society in the face of grave personal risk.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

The strike hit the Erbil-Pirmam road around 9:35 p.m., leaving three people slightly injured and damaging a restaurant and a number of vehicles, the Directorate General of Counter Terrorism said in a statement.

Nabaz Rashad, a reporter for the independent TV news website Westga News, told CPJ that, “minutes after the strike, I arrived at the scene even before the security forces and started going live on our Facebook page via my mobile phone.” While live streaming, he said, “security forces came and hit me with their fists, breaking my mobile phone and receiver. I kept telling them that I am a journalist and have my press ID, but useless!”

“They took me and locked me up inside their military vehicle for an hour, abusing and threatening me,” Rashad added.

When he went to the main Asayish headquarters at Erbil a couple of hours later, Rashad was forced to sign a pledge stating, “I am responsible if any photos and videos go viral,” in order to get his broken mobile phone and receiver back, he said.

Jihad Waisi, a correspondent for the NRT TV, a news broadcaster funded by the opposition New Generation Movement, told CPJ that the security forces intercepted and stopped all the media outlets and forced them to leave the scene, with no exceptions.

“We were a team of three, covering it from a distance, but the security forces came and took all the equipment and our personal mobile phones, asking us to leave the place immediately,” said Waisi, adding that they got back the equipment and mobile phones, except for the camera’s memory card.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Metro Center for Journalist Rights and Advocacy, an Iraqi press freedom organization, urged the security forces “to let the journalists work and cover the scene freely without any obstacles.”

“The attack on Westga News reporter Nabaz Rashad, confiscation of journalistic equipment, and blocking media outlets would not strengthen the security plan nor hide the realities,” Metro Center said.

When CPJ reached out to two journalists from other media organizations who were also prevented from covering the incident that night, they confirmed the information but refused to comment further due to concerns about reprisal from their outlets, which are affiliated with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party.

CPJ reached out to Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed via email and messaging app for comment, but did not receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On June 1, Damad, host of the program “Al-Mohayed” on the public TV broadcaster Iraqia, aired an interview with al-Taei, a freelance writer, in which al-Taei criticized Iraq’s judicial system and the leadership of Iran.

On June 2, the Karkh Courthouse in Baghdad issued a warrant for al-Taei’s arrest over his comments, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Al-Taei, who lives in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, told CPJ on Tuesday, June 7, that he remained free and believed that local authorities would not comply with the arrest order.

In a statement on Tuesday, Iraqi authorities said unnamed journalists could face charges under Articles 226 and 229 of the penal code, which criminalize insulting the courts. If charged and convicted under Article 226, the journalists could face a fine and prison terms of up to seven years; Article 229 imposes a fine and prison terms of up to three years.

“Iraqi authorities must cease their harassment of journalists Sarmad al-Taei and Saadoun Damad at once. Journalists should not face arrest and potential criminal charges over their political commentary,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour, in Washington, D.C. “Instead of threatening journalists with detention, Iraqi authorities should work to protect members of the press from threats and intimidation.”

Al-Taei is the former editor-in-chief of the Al-Alam newspaper, and now contributes to the website Al-Monitor and other media outlets, he said, adding that, “I criticize a lot, especially the [Iranian] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

Iraqia took “Al-Mohayed” off the air shortly after al-Taei made those comments, according to al-Taei and an employee of the broadcaster who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of prosecution. The show has been suspended, according to news reports and the employee who spoke to CPJ.

The Iraqi Media Network coalition of broadcasters, which includes Iraqia, aired a statement later that day saying it “regrets the offense” made by a guest on one of its shows.

After the program aired, armed crowds surrounded Iraqia’s office in Baghdad, and many pro-Iranian Twitter users called for al-Taei and Damad to be “punished” and arrested, according to news reports and tweets reviewed by CPJ.

On June 2, the Iraqi Judicial Association, a professional group of judges, issued a statement accusing unnamed journalists of being part of a “systematic, planned, and continuous campaign to target the Iraqi judiciary,” and the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court said in a statement that there was “an agenda against the judiciary system.”

The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission, which oversees media outlets in the country, also issued a statement decrying “unprofessional offenses against Iraqi national symbols.”

Al-Taei said that he and Damad had been targeted in “a smear campaign” by people affiliated with Iranian militias, which had resulted in the suspensions of his Facebook and Twitter accounts. Twitter’s press office replied to an email from CPJ saying that al-Taei’s account had been suspended “by mistake,” but the account remained suspended at the time of publication. Facebook did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

CPJ emailed the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq, the Iraqi Media Network, and the Communications and Media Commission for comment, but did not receive any replies.

CPJ called the Karkh Courthouse in Baghdad for comment, but the call did not connect; CPJ also emailed the court, but received an error message that the email could not be received.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

The Kurdistan TV crew—correspondent Halo Jabari and cameraman Ako Banayi—had traveled to Zanqa village to cover the aftermath of the burning of farmers’ crops and grains by alleged Islamic State militants there, the crew said.

Jabari told CPJ that “six military vehicles full of the federal police forces came and told us that we did not have permission to visit the area without a support letter from Kirkuk joint operations command.”

“We had our press ID. We told them that we are a registered media outlet all over Iraq and we can go and cover any area we want, but they prevented us from covering and asked us to go with them,” Jabari said.

Jabari said the federal police “took us to their headquarters in Daquq for interrogation. They were very furious and told us that this area is a military zone, that means no media could go there without permission.”

Banayi told CPJ that “we told them that we entered the area through their [the federal police] formal checkpoint. And the village is full of people, but they insisted that we should leave there.”

“They asked me to remove all the footage I took with my camera, but luckily, while they took us to their headquarters, I changed the memory and hid the used memory card to save the footage,” Banayi said.

After more than an hour, the federal police released the crew and warned them not to return to the area or report that the crops and grains were burnt by Islamic State militants, the crew said.

CPJ called Iraq’s Federal Police Command and left a message, but did not receive an immediate response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

The PKK, a militant group and political party active in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, is listed as a terrorist group by the United States, Turkey, and other countries.

The Kurdistan 24 crew—correspondent Diyar Jamal, cameraman Karwan Yara, and driver Soran Hakim—was attacked in front of the province’s forensic medicine department in Sulaymaniyah those sources said. The crew was covering the delivery of the body of the murder victim, Zaki Chalabi, by his friends and relatives.

On May 17, two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle had fired at a restaurant Chalabi owned in the Bakhtiyari neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah, hitting him, Iraqi-Kurdish news outlet Rudaw reported. Chalabi was reported dead the next day after undergoing two surgeries.

Esta media, a news website affiliated with Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which governs Sulaymaniyah province, reported on its Facebook page that the journalists were severely beaten by PKK supporters.

Jamal told CPJ via phone that “there were about 20 to 30 supporters” of the PKK, and that they “tried to force us to report that Turkey was involved in the killing of the restaurant owner, even though the investigation hasn’t yet been concluded. So we refused to do so.”

“They abused and chanted slogans against us, they accused us of working in favor of MIT,” which is Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, Jamal said, adding, “Right away, they attacked and beat us badly. Our clothes were all torn.”

The three journalists ran off in different directions, leaving their equipment behind, except the camera, Jamal said, adding, “They looted the voice receiver and the car keys, our mic was later found destroyed, our cameraman could run with his camera.”

Jamal said the security forces and other journalists intervened. “The security forces fired bullets into the air to disperse the assailants and rescued us,” he said.

Hakim told CPJ that, “despite of security forces’ attempt to protect me, they took me three times and beat me very badly. Even when I ran to take a taxi, they get me out of the taxi and beat me again.” His body is “full of bruises and cuts,” he said.

Yara told CPJ that he escaped via taxi, without sustaining any series injuries. “Many people gathered around us and assaulted us,” he said. “I hugged my camera and live streaming device and ran to the security forces and asked for protection.”

In a joint press conference on May 18, Metro Center for Journalist Rights and Advocacy and the Sulaymaniyah branch of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate, condemned the attack. The two regional press freedom groups stressed that “no one should interfere in the journalists’ work or tell them how to report the event while conducting their media coverage.”

In a statement issued following the attack, Kurdistan 24 described the attack as “an infringement on the freedom of the press.”

“We would like to make it clear to everyone that Kurdistan 24 has always professionally covered events, and it will never stop its professional work in telling the truth through its media coverage,” said the broadcaster, which is supportive of Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party.

CPJ reached out to Sarkawt Ahmed, the spokesperson of Sulaymaniyah police, via phone and left a message, but did not receive an immediate response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The investigation, “The Assassination of Sardasht Osman: Debunking the Official Story”, is the fifth in a series of investigations to push for local justice as part of the A Safer World for the Truth initiative, a project by leading press freedom organisations Free Press Unlimited, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The group’s analysis of the “official investigation” revealed significant gaps and irregularities, including a failure to interview family members and friends. Instead they were threatened to remain silent and support the official storyline.

Iraq currently ranks 172nd out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index. All the killers of murdered journalists in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have operated with impunity, according to CPJ’s 2021 Global Impunity Index where Iraq is ranked third.

The murdered journalist, Sardasht Osman, worked in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and wrote about corruption and nepotism. In December 2009, he wrote a satirical article, ‘I am in love with Barzani’s daughter’, in which he juxtaposed the luxurious lifestyle of President Massoud Barzani’s family with the hardships of average Kurdish citizens. Shortly after, he started receiving death threats.

Inconsistencies in the official storyline are most pronounced with regards to: the kidnapping of Sardasht, transporting Sardasht (or his body) from Erbil to Mosul, the official autopsy report, the allegation that the perpetrators were from the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group, and the alleged motive for his assassination, the A Safer World For The Truth investigation found.

“There are always people who don’t want to listen when you start telling the truth, who get furious at the slightest whisper. To stay alive though, we must tell the truth.

I will continue to write until the last minute of my life.”

-Sardasht’s personal response to threats prior to his assassination.

The case of Sardasht is illustrative of the fate of many young, critical journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan, including: Asos Hardi, Kawa Garmyani, Wedad Hussein and Soran Mama Hama. Since Sarshadt’s murder, at least 22 journalists have been killed in Iraq in connection to their work, eight of whom were killed in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Furthermore, journalists like Sardasht who work in places with limited press freedom are often forced to self-censor to avoid crossing certain red lines that can trigger violence by authorities. Threats and attacks against these journalists are rarely investigated promptly, effectively and thoroughly..

In light of these findings, A Safer World for the Truth has published a series of concrete recommendations to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and to the international community:

First, Kurdish authorities must immediately end all harassment, intimidation, and threats against Sardasht’s family members and friends and initiate a transparent and impartial reinvestigation of the case of Sardasht Osman.

Second, advocates, particularly those with diplomatic and economic relations to the KRG, should exert continuous pressure on Kurdish authorities to investigate threats against and murders of journalists according to international standards.

Third, States should impose targeted sanctions on KRG officials and authorities for preventing prompt, effective, thorough, impartial and transparent investigations into crimes against journalists.

Finally, supporters of press freedom should join us in calling on the Kurdish authorities to develop a formal independent safety mechanism tasked with monitoring and acting on threats and attacks against journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan. By providing journalists and media workers with effective protective and preventive measures, we can begin to break the cycle of impunity.

Jules Swinkels, Lead Researcher for this investigation, Free Press Unlimited (FPU), states:

“The case of Sardasht is emblematic of what can happen when journalists push the boundaries of their confined freedom of expression. Sardasht wrote satirically about Kurdistan’s most powerful individuals, and was kidnapped and assassinated because of it. Tragically, his case demonstrates that a complete lack of political will to investigate and solve murders of journalists domestically, is one of the main reasons for impunity. The recommendations in this report provide a pathway to let justice prevail in cases of murdered journalists.”

Yeganeh Rezaian, Senior Researcher, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), states:

“Reporters must be able to speak truth to power, uncover corruption, hold the powerful to account, and yes, satirize public figures without fear of intimidation, violence, and death. And when authorities pursue an agenda of persecution against journalists and tolerate impunity for their assailants, it is imperative they not be allowed to evade justice and prolong a campaign of violent censorship. This report offers a clear roadmap for how to address the case of Sardasht and ensure greater transparency and accountability for cases in the future.”

Sabrina Bennoui, Middle East Director, Reporters without Borders (RSF), states:

“Twelve years after the assassination of Sardasht Osman, the authorities still stick to their official version – which the journalist’s entourage has never believed in, regarding his writings critical of the government. The investigation was as opaque as it was expeditious and it is clear that it did not reveal the truth about the perpetrators and their real motives.”

Previous investigations and recommendations can be found here.

The full investigation, in English, Kurdish, and Arabic, can be downloaded here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Ahmed Zidan.

Protesters gathered at the U.N. building to demonstrate against Turkish military operations in the region, those reports said.

As Asayish officers dispersed the protest, a group of three officers approached Ferman Sadeq, a reporter with the local independent broadcaster Peregraf Web-TV, confiscated his cellphone and microphone, and forced him to stop broadcasting, according to those reports and Sadeq, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Sadeq, who said he was clearly wearing his press ID, told CPJ that he feared the officers would beat him, but said protesters intervened and protected him. After the protest, Asayish officers returned his phone and microphone, he said.

Also at that protest, Asayish officers seized equipment and a vehicle used by reporter Dyar Hussen and camera operator Hangaw Nino with the Esta Media Network, a broadcaster affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, preventing them from covering the demonstration, according to those news reports and Hussen, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Authorities later returned the journalists’ car and equipment, according to those sources.

CPJ contacted Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed for comment via messaging app, but did not receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On April 20, soldiers with the Iraqi 20th Infantry Division arrested Kavčiča, a Slovenian freelance reporter, at an army checkpoint in the northern city of Sinjar, according to multiple news reports and people familiar with the situation who spoke to CPJ. Kavčiča identified himself as a journalist, but Iraqi forces detained him and brought him to a nearby military facility, where they confiscated his phone and questioned him, according to those reports.

Authorities also detained Marlene Förster, a German national, who was traveling with Kavčiča, according to those sources. Authorities allege that the pair “pretended to work as journalists” and accused them of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant and political group, those reports said.

On April 22, authorities transferred Kavčiča and Förster to Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, for further questioning, according to those reports and the Berlin-based Kurdish rights group Civaka Azad. No formal charges have been disclosed in their case as of Wednesday, April 27, according to Förster’s mother Lydia Förster, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and Kavčiča’s colleague, who spoke to CPJ on the condition that their name not be disclosed.

“Iraqi authorities must release Slovenian journalist Matej Kavčiča immediately and without charge, and must ensure that the press can work freely,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Journalists in Iraq must be able to do their jobs without fear of reprisal or being caught in political crosshairs.”

In a statement, the Slovenian student-run broadcaster Radio Študent wrote that Kavčiča had traveled to Sinjar to work as a freelance reporter and occasionally contributed to that outlet. Radio Študent wrote that its staff “firmly reject” any accusation that Kavčiča was not working as a journalist.

The colleague of Kavčiča’s who spoke to CPJ, who works at Radio Študent, said Kavčiča had been covering issues affecting ethnic Yazidis in Iraq.

A February 2022 article about the political situation in Syria was initially published by Radio Študent pseudonymously, and the outlet later added a note saying that it was written by Kavčič, reporting from Iraq. He also recently wrote about Kurds in Iraq and immigrants in Slovenia for local Slovenian outlets.

Turkish forces launched a military operation against the PKK in northern Iraq on April 18, according to news reports, which noted that Turkey considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization, and considers local Yazidi militias to be affiliated with the PKK. Yazidi forces have also clashed with Iraqi military forces in recent weeks, according to those reports.

German and Slovenian authorities are aware of Kavčiča and Förster’s detention, according to media reports.

CPJ emailed the Slovenian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, which oversees the country’s relations with Iraq, and the Slovenian Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment, but did not receive any replies.

CPJ also emailed the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, and Communication and Media Commission for comment, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

Baroshky was released in February after  being convicted on charges that included prosecution under the Law on Misuse of Communication Devices, known as Law 6, which lawmakers billed as a way to counter online harassment but has been used by government officials to persecute independent reporters.

Authorities first arrested Baroshky in August 2020, then briefly released and rearrested him in September of that year. In June 2021, a court in the city of Duhok sentenced him to one year in jail under Law 6, as CPJ documented. In September 2021, a court in Erbil, the region’s capital, extended his sentence by one year after convicting him on two additional charges under the same law.

In a recent phone interview, Baroshky described the charges he faced, his experience in detention, and the state of press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

In an email to CPJ in September 2021, Dindar Zebari, the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government’s coordinator for international advocacy, said Baroshky’s conviction was not related to his journalistic work.

Viyan Abbas, the Duhok branch secretary of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate, a regional journalists’ union, told CPJ via phone in April 2022 that the syndicate provided Baroshky with a lawyer to assist with his defense on the charges under Law 6, because it is “our duty to defend all journalistic cases.”

You say you were detained by police and assaulted by security forces in connection with your work. Yet Iraqi Kurdish authorities told CPJ that you were not arrested because of your journalism. What is your response to that?

It was clear throughout the investigation that I was arrested and imprisoned due to my journalism work; all the inquiries and questions were referring to it.

I had seven court hearings in Duhok before I was transferred to the regional capital, Erbil. At all the hearings, I was charged and treated as a journalist, but they didn’t charge me under the journalism law because the case was politicized. [I was convicted under] Article 2 of Law Number 6 of 2008, relating to the misuse of communication devices, and accused of acts of sabotage and spying for neighboring countries, which were all fake. The journalists’ union was present at almost all hearings and defended me as a journalist.

During the investigations, there were no clear charges, and it didn’t go through a legal process. For example, I was asked about the posts I had on my social media accounts, my TV interviews about the situation in Duhok, and the articles and reports I was conducting as a freelance journalist.

Do you believe you got a fair court hearing?

Definitely not, the court hearings weren’t fair at all. First, I believe that my arrest is a clear violation to the press and the law itself. I had IDs from both the press syndicate and the outlets I was working for, I shouldn’t have been arrested at all.

People should ask why the court hearings were postponed so many times. It was all because the Kurdish authorities asked the judges forcefully to find us guilty of crimes we were not involved in, but many of them refused to do so because they didn’t want to punish innocent people. That is why [the judges] were threatened andwere moved to the city’s surrounding courts or a remote area.

The nonprofit group Christian Peacemaker Teams published a statement saying you were beaten by 20 people after your arrest. How were you treated in prison?

When I was arrested together with Badal Barwari on August 18, 2020, we were detained at Zirka Prison in Duhok–which belonged to the police–until October 2, 2020, on journalistic charges. The last day, I was moved to Duhok Asayish (security forces) headquarters. I was beaten and abused with kicks and batons by more than 20 people who came from Erbil; I was also blindfolded and handcuffed.

After that, I was transferred to Erbil, although I didn’t know that it was Erbil because I was blindfolded. They put me in solitary confinement and I stayed there for 52 days. None of my family or friends were aware of the place I was detained, or even if I was alive or dead.

The Asayish forces in Erbil videoed us and asked me if I was hit, and I answered, “yes, you did.” But they stopped the recording and asked me once again and said, “I am not talking about Duhok, I am talking about Erbil headquarters.” Then I said “no.”

[Editor’s note: Ashti Majeed, the spokesperson for the Erbil Asaiysh forces, in an email to CPJ in April 2022 denied that Baroshky had been beaten or subjected to insults during his detention in Erbil, adding that “our administration is committed to the legal procedures and principles of human rights in dealing with the detainees.”]

What do you think about Article 2 of Law Number 6 of 2008, relating to the misuse of communication devices, under which you were charged?

The law itself is somewhat necessary to limit and control the social problems and violations using mobile phones and social media platforms that harm people, especially the harassment of girls and women. But the problem is when the authorities are misusing this law to punish the journalists who are conducting reports against them and those who are speaking in opposition to them.

The authorities are trying to punish the activists and journalists with non-political laws just to tell the international community that the prisons are empty of political prisoners.

Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan believed that the region was becoming more media friendly, but we have documented multiple journalist arrests in recent years. How do you see the future of media freedom in your area, Duhok?

Those who claim that Iraqi Kurdistan is becoming more media friendly are working and backed by the authorities here. But if a neutral organization, like CPJ, came and conducted research, it would be clear that journalists are killed, arrested, abducted, and threatened due to their journalistic work. I can truthfully say that freedom of media and freedom of expression in Iraqi Kurdistan are an illusion.

After the 2018 parliamentary elections in Iraqi Kurdistan and especially after new Erbil and Duhok governors were installed, the situation became worse for journalists and freedom fighters. They are trying to silence anyone who raises his or her voice.

I don’t see a brighter future for freedom of media and freedom of expression. I have recently visited six media outlets that covered and supported my case to thank them, they told me that the situation became worse, they can’t work freely, and are even afraid of reporting about the lack of public services. They told me that they expect security forces to storm them and arrest them in any time.

Do you think that your imprisonment had an impact on other journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan?

At the beginning, it impacted other journalists negatively. They were scared, especially when Prime Minister Masrour Barzani alleged that the detained journalists were “spies.” But when internal and international organizations spoke up about our cases, and let people know that we were innocent and the cases were politicized…it encouraged other journalists to…speak loudly and report bravely.

What does the world need to know about press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan?

Journalists from the Badinan area, in Duhok province, are in desperate need of international support to work freely. The authorities are trying to suffocate every voice demanding freedom of media and freedom of expression. We should end the 30 years of injustice against free media and free expression in the Badinan area.

Additional reporting by Soran Rashid.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Yeganeh Rezaian.

During a broadcast of “With Mulla Talal” on Monday, April 4, presenter Ahmad Mulla Talal and Iraqi actor Ayad al-Tayee, dressed as a military general, hosted a satirical discussion on the alleged sale of top posts in the country’s military and the misappropriation of government funds.

The following day, the Communications and Media Commission state regulator suspended “With Mulla Talal” indefinitely for “insulting the military,” according to news reports, that suspension order, and statements by UTV and Talal.

The program has been off the air since receiving that order, UTV tweeted.

“Iraqi authorities should recognize that journalists and media outlets have the right to air critical coverage of the country’s military,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “The Communications and Media Commission should drop its suspension of the ‘With Mulla Talal’ talk show and ensure that journalists can discuss newsworthy topics without fear of reprisal.”

On Monday, the Iraqi Defense Ministry published a Facebook post saying that the satirical segment “harms the reputation of the entire Iraqi army and erases all their sacrifices,” and accused al-Tayee of impersonating a soldier. That post also said that the channel failed to add a disclaimer that the satirical segment was separate from its journalist work, “to prevent viewers’ confusion that the person being interviewed is a real officer in the Iraqi army.”

The suspension order, issued after the Defense Ministry filed a complaint, called the segment “a clear insult to the Iraqi army and all its members” which posed a threat to the army’s cohesion, and constituted “incitement and hate speech against the army.” The order also asked that the segment be removed from UTV’s social media platforms, and that UTV issue an apology to the military.

As of April 6, the episode no longer appeared on the outlet’s website and social media pages.

Talal wrote in a Facebook post that he would not apologize, and said that Iraq had “moved from the stage of corruption and failure to that of corruption, failure, muzzling, and dictatorship, and what is coming is worse.”

UTV is owned by the son of politician Khamis al-Khanjar, according to reports. “With Mulla Talal” is a weekly program that frequently features interviews with politicians and analysts to discuss daily news and Iraqi politics, and has aired daily episodes including the satirical show featuring al-Tayee during Ramadan.

In a statement published on April 5, UTV said it was a mistake not to better separate the satirical segment from the other programming on the talk show, but called the suspension “arbitrary and unacceptable professionally,” saying that the program “didn’t incite violence and hatred but was critical and satirical,” and “did not broadcast false news.”

CPJ emailed the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission and the Ministry of Defense for comment, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has died of cancer at the age of 84. She served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 until 1997, when President Bill Clinton nominated her to become the first female secretary of state. Albright was a staunch supporter of U.S. power and a defender of authoritarian leaders around the world, including Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Indonesia’s Suharto. She was a key architect of NATO’s 78-day bombing of Serbia in 1999. Albright also repeatedly defended the Clinton administration’s devastating sanctions against Iraq, infamously saying in a 1996 “60 Minutes” interview that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children from U.S. sanctions were “worth it.” Democracy Now! confronted Albright on those comments in 2004, when she acknowledged it was a “stupid statement,” but she denied the sanctions on Iraq laid the groundwork for the Bush administration’s invasion.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.