YRA holds KDP authorities responsible for safety of journalist Suleyman Ahmed

Today, the Free Media Union in the city of Qamishlo made a statement to public opinion, denouncing the arrest of the journalist and editor of Roj News Agency, Suleyman Ahmed, who was kidnapped by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, on October 25, while crossing into southern Kurdistan via Fish Khabur.

The statement reads:

Journalist Suleyman Ahmed began his journalistic activity with the beginning of the revolution in Rojava, NE Syria, in the place where he was born in the city of Afrin. Like hundreds of young journalists in the region, he worked with his voice, pen, and camera to convey the revolution to the people and the region.

After the occupation of Afrin Canton by the Turkish state in 2018, Suleyman Ahmed’s family, like hundreds of thousands of Afrin residents, were forced to emigrate and were forced to leave their lands using the latest weapons they acquired from NATO.

Suleyman Ahmed’s family then settled in refugee camps, in the Shahba Canton, with the hope of returning to Afrin. Due to the difficult living conditions, Suleyman Ahmed, like dozens of Rojava youth working in media institutions in southern Kurdistan, joined Roj News, whose headquarters are located in the city of Sulaymaniyah.

Suleyman Ahmed has lived in southern Kurdistan with official documents for several years and continues to work, and with the same documents, he passed from the Fish Khabur crossing to NE Syria to visit his family in Syria.

On October 25, when Suleyman wanted to return to work in the same way he crossed to Rojava, contact with him was lost after his return from the crossing, and after a few days it was known that he had been arrested by the Erbil authorities, and for 6 days no information was received. about him.

After pressure from his friends and media institutions, Kurdistan Democratic Party officials said that Suleiman Ahmed was under arrest under allegations that were far from reality and contradicted Kurdish values.

We, in turn, say that the Kurdistan Regional Government is responsible for placing Suleyman Ahmed under arrest; Because his arrest violates all human rights standards and laws and provisions related to the protection of journalists.

We, at the Free Media Union, strongly condemn the arrest of Suleyman Ahmed, who holds the position of editor-in-chief of Roj News Agency, by the Erbil authorities. We show our support for Suleyman from Qamishlo, and we add our voices to the voice of our friends in Roj News in southern Kurdistan.

We know that journalists in southern Kurdistan and friends of Suleyman are making a statement at this moment in the city of Sulaymaniyah, we also salute them from here and add our voices to theirs, and we call on the journalists of southern Kurdistan and the organizations and institutions concerned with protecting the rights of journalists, most notably the International Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists and all international organizations and institutions with human rights and the rights of journalists to release journalist Suleiman Ahmed.

Sh-S

ANHA