ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani received the head of a local press advocacy group on Tuesday to discuss press freedom in the Region as well as recent international reports about violations against journalists, the head of the group told Rudaw English.
“We talked about press freedom in the Kurdistan Region and the international reports about human rights and press freedom, and how we as a civil society organization have recorded them,” Rahman Gharib, chairman of the board of directors at Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy told Rudaw English.
Gharib said that the meeting was part of the center’s campaign to hand their annual report about violations against journalists in the Kurdistan Region to top officials in person.
“What was important for us was that the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region reaffirmed that he supports freedom of speech, that journalists should have access to information, that journalists should take part in the fight against corruption, and that the rights of journalists should be preserved as per Kurdistan Region’s laws.”
PM Barzani said that he had “productive and open talks” with Gharib.
“We agreed on the importance of the press to promote transparency and accountability and combat misinformation. The KRG is a regional exemplar and steadfast supporter of freedom of expression,” he said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has come under fire from local and international rights groups for arresting journalists, protesters, and activists. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based press freedom organisation, said in a letter addressed to the Kurdistan Region premier that there had been a “recent deterioration of press freedom” in the Region.
Amnesty International said in their annual report released on April 7 that journalists were among those detained by security forces in Duhok in May after taking part in a protest against the government’s failure to pay public sector salaries on time. The protests were violently dispersed.
Five of the journalists, Sherwan Sherwani, Shvan Saeed, Ayaz Karam, Hariwan Issa and Guhdar Zebari, were sentenced to six years in prison by an Erbil court on February 16. The cases of two others tried on the same day, including teacher Badal Barwari, are awaiting further hearings after concerns were raised about lack of evidence.
Badriya Sewaily, rapporteur from Kurdistan Parliament’s Social Affairs and Protection of Human Rights Committee, said in a press conference on April 1 that “According to [the detainees], they haven’t seen a lawyer since their arrest. This is against the principles of human rights. They haven’t seen their families and this is also a human rights violation.”
Gharib told Rudaw English that Barzani refused to comment on the detained journalists, on the grounds that the trials are ongoing.
According to the Metro Center report handed to Barzani at the meeting, 385 violations were committed against 291 journalists and media outlets in 2020.
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