S. Kurdistan is no longer a safe environment for practicing journalistic work

International organizations speak about the restrictions imposed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) authorities against journalists in Southern Kurdistan, and perhaps the most prominent of them is Reporters Without Borders, which has spoken on more than one occasion about violations against journalists in that region.

The organization counted, in the period extending between the beginning of 2023 and the end of last September, “the arrest of about twenty media actors” in Southern Kurdistan.

The organization sounded "the alarm about the increasing pace of violations against press freedom" in Southern Kurdistan.

"Reporters Without Borders has counted the arrest of about twenty media actors in various parts of this region since the beginning of 2023, noting that the past few days have witnessed a noticeable worsening in the pace of violations against press freedom."

Meanwhile, the Journalists Syndicate in the Kurdistan Region monitored 44 cases of violations of press and media freedoms during the first half of 2023, while the Kurdistan Journalists Union said: “The first six months of 2023 witnessed 80 journalists being subjected to violations 41 times.”

On October 25, the Kurdistan Democratic Party authorities kidnapped journalist and editor of the Arabic section at Roj News Agency, Suleiman Ahmed, at the Fish Khabur Gate after his return to Southern Kurdistan from Syria.

Journalist Suleiman Ahmed crossed into NE,Syria through the Fish Khabur crossing legally, coming from Sulaymaniyah in Southern Kurdistan.

After his kidnapping, Reporters Without Borders expressed its concern about the kidnapping of journalist Suleiman Ahmed during a post on the “X” platform in which it indicated that he had been kidnapped by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and stressed the need for his immediate release.

It read: “Suleiman Ahmed was arrested by the Kurdistan Democratic Party on the Syrian border, and the security forces in the Kurdistan region must release him immediately.”

Last July 20, the Erbil Criminal Court, which is under the control of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, sentenced Sherwan Sherwani, an independent journalist and former editor-in-chief of the monthly newspaper Başûr, to an additional four years in prison.

Sherwani was arrested in 2020, along with four other colleagues: Gahdar Zebari, Hariwan Issa, Ayaz Karam, and Shivan Saeed, in the context of his investigative work on corruption cases involving a number of leaders and officials in Southern Kurdistan, including people from the Barzani family.

During the year 2021, the Metro Center for Press and Media Freedom in the Kurdistan Region revealed 353 cases of violations committed against 260 journalists and media organizations.

In 2022, according to data from the Metro Center for the Protection of Journalists’ Rights, 431 violations were committed against journalists, while the Journalists Syndicate in the Kurdistan Region indicates that 73 violations were recorded against journalists.

Most organizations, unions, and organizations concerned with monitoring violations affecting journalistic work in Southern Kurdistan agree that the region is witnessing an increasing and significant decline in the freedoms of journalistic work.

T/ Satt.

ANHA