“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.

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.