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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two Rudaw journalists taken into custody by a unit of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) in eastern Shingal (Sinjar) this morning have been released.
Rudaw reporter Tahsin Qasim and his cameraman Naif Eido were held for an hour by the PMF’s Brigade 21, which is part of the Badr organization, a pro-Iranian militia group.
“We were doing a report in east Shingal, when we went to the PMF Brigade 21’s head. They asked us if we were from Rudaw and then told us that we would be arrested,” Tahsin Qasim told Rudaw English upon his release.
Qasim claimed that they were hit with the butt of a rifle by members of the brigade when they first were taken into custody and accused of being spies.
“They said, ‘you are from Kurdistan. The government and Peshmerga sent you to show our weapons and presence while you know we came here because of a war’,” he added. “They tried to tie our hands, but we resisted,” the reporter said, adding they were threatened with disappearance.
The brigade commander told the journalists that they would have faced a worse fate had they not been Yazidis, according to Qasim, also accusing them of spying for the Peshmerga and Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) internal security forces.
The journalist were released after they signed a statement saying they would not go to the area for reporting again.
This is not the first time Rudaw reporters have been taken into custody and suffered verbal and physical abuse.
Rudaw staff Halkawt Aziz and Khatab Ajmi were taken into custody by federal police in Karrada, Baghdad as they were covering an attack on the KDP office in October.
"They treated us in a very unpleasant way, pushing us, kicking us, and insulting us,” Aziz said at the time.
Three PMF units were deployed to Shingal nearly two weeks ago, after Turkey threatened to launch a military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the area. The second regiment of Brigade 21 was sent to east Shingal, Brigade 33 was sent to the west, and Brigade 14 to Mount Shingal (Sinjar).
"In Iraq there is no such thing as protecting journalists," said Rahman Gharib, head of the Metro Center, a Sulaimani-based press watchdog, told Rudaw in response to news of the journalists being taken into custody.
Rudaw reporter Tahsin Qasim and his cameraman Naif Eido were held for an hour by the PMF’s Brigade 21, which is part of the Badr organization, a pro-Iranian militia group.
“We were doing a report in east Shingal, when we went to the PMF Brigade 21’s head. They asked us if we were from Rudaw and then told us that we would be arrested,” Tahsin Qasim told Rudaw English upon his release.
Qasim claimed that they were hit with the butt of a rifle by members of the brigade when they first were taken into custody and accused of being spies.
“They said, ‘you are from Kurdistan. The government and Peshmerga sent you to show our weapons and presence while you know we came here because of a war’,” he added. “They tried to tie our hands, but we resisted,” the reporter said, adding they were threatened with disappearance.
The brigade commander told the journalists that they would have faced a worse fate had they not been Yazidis, according to Qasim, also accusing them of spying for the Peshmerga and Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) internal security forces.
This is not the first time Rudaw reporters have been taken into custody and suffered verbal and physical abuse.
Rudaw staff Halkawt Aziz and Khatab Ajmi were taken into custody by federal police in Karrada, Baghdad as they were covering an attack on the KDP office in October.
"They treated us in a very unpleasant way, pushing us, kicking us, and insulting us,” Aziz said at the time.
Three PMF units were deployed to Shingal nearly two weeks ago, after Turkey threatened to launch a military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the area. The second regiment of Brigade 21 was sent to east Shingal, Brigade 33 was sent to the west, and Brigade 14 to Mount Shingal (Sinjar).
"In Iraq there is no such thing as protecting journalists," said Rahman Gharib, head of the Metro Center, a Sulaimani-based press watchdog, told Rudaw in response to news of the journalists being taken into custody.
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