On Monday, Asayish security forces raided the Duhok office of Rast Media and detained director and founder Omed Baroshky and editor Yasir Abdulrahman. The two were held for two hours and then released without explanation, but computers and camera equipment were not returned and they are still not able to access their office that Asayish forces locked, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
On the same day in Erbil, two unidentified men attacked reporter Ahmad Mustafa and camera operator Omer Khabati, both employed by Gorran-affiliate KNN TV. They were filming a show about Ramadan when Mustafa said he was physically attacked, knocked to the ground, and repeatedly punched. One of the assailants has been arrested, according to CPJ.
“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. “Authorities must do more to protect members of the press from arbitrary detentions and attacks.”
Baroshky was previously convicted on charges related to unauthorized protests in Duhok in 2020. He was released in February 2022 after spending more than a year in prison.
Kurdish authorities repeatedly face criticism related to treatment of journalists and imposing restrictive measures on the press. There were more than 400 press freedom violations committed against Kurdistan Region’s journalists in 2022, according to the Sulaimani-based Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy.
Journalists in the Kurdistan Region are subject to violence, restrictions, and prosecution under “more stringent” laws than the dedicated press law, the US State Department said in its annual report on human rights.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) defends its record on press freedom, saying it values the rights of freedom of expression and media. “In the Kurdistan Region, there is a high degree of freedom of expression and the press, with hundreds of media outlets operating freely, most of which are critical of the official authorities,” the KRG’s office of the coordinator for international advocacy said in response to the US State Department report.
