Committee to Protect Journalists calls for immediate release of journalist Suleiman Ahmed

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the immediate release of Roj News Agency editor Suleiman Ahmed. The CPJ insists that the charges against him are a pretext to silence him, and that no evidence exists to support these charges. 

 Yesterday, the Duhok Criminal Court sentenced Ahmed to three years in prison based on flimsy charges. Despite the lack of evidence or documentation in the case file, the court imposed the sentence without any conclusive proof.

 The CPJ expressed its deep concern about the sentence through its website, highlighting the nine months Ahmed spent in detention. The organization stated that journalists in the Kurdistan region are marginalized and harassed by the authorities for doing their journalistic work.

 The CPJ emphasized that the charges against Ahmed were solely intended to silence him. They stressed that the court failed to provide any evidence to justify the punishment and that the judicial process was entirely unfair.

The CPJ added that lawyers were only allowed to prepare for the trial after pressure from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and foreign consulates. 

T/ Satt.

ANHA