KT News and Comment: Karzan Karim, an independent journalist who was working as a security officer at Erbil airport, was charged last year with divulging sensitive information to a third party and sentenced to two years imprisonment. Karim was jailed after the Kurdistan Post published articles in which he accused security agency authorities of corruption….
.jpg)
Category Archives: Journalism
Sardasht Osman remembered on the third anniversary of his murder
KT News and Comment: Journalists and human rights activists in Kurdistan and around the world are remembering Sardasht Osman who was murdered three years ago today. A group of writers and journalists are meeting in the Culture Cafe in Suli to launch a book that has been published to remember Sardasht’s life and his writing….
The 2010 murder of young journalist Sardasht Osman shocked the world
By Mufid Abdulla: This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on 11 May 2010, shortly after the brutal murder of Sardasht Osman. Three years on, journalists continue to be victimised in the south of Kurdistan and Sardasht’s killers still walk free. This is the shocking story of the young journalist, Sardasht…
Kamal Chomani, Kurdistan Tribune columnist, shortlisted in International Media Awards
KT News: Kurdistan Tribune columnist Kamal Chomani has been shortlisted in the 2013 International Media Awards. Kamal has been nominated for the Breakaway Award which “encourages new talent, in mainstream journalism as well as in the fields of internet news and citizen journalism”. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about it…
Orientalists!
By Dr M Koohzad: I have sent the following to Richard Allan ‘Rick’ Stengel, Managing Editor of ‘Time’ magazine. Naturally, he ignored me and my comment. 21 Feb 2013 Dear Mr. Stengel, Recently, you published several articles in your magazine regarding the Kurds/Kurdistan written by Ms. Jay Newton-Small. I have read the following two. Full references…
Iraqi Kurdistan: free speech under attack
By Human Rights Watch: Government Critics, Journalists Arbitrarily Detained, Prosecuted for Criticizing Authorities (Baghdad) – Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should stop arbitrarily detaining journalists, activists, and political opposition figures, and end its prosecution of journalists for insulting or defaming public figures. The Asayish – the Kurdistan Security Agency – and police arrested without…
Support Rzhwan Amin, detained Iraqi journalist
By NUJ (Manchester & Salford Branch): The UK National Union of Journalists’ Manchester and Salford branch has launched a campaign in support of a political journalist who fled Iraq in 2010 after being threatened as a result of newspaper articles he wrote at the time of the elections. Rzhwan Amin (Jaf), who has been living…
Support the motion to UK parliament on media freedom in Turkey
By Peace in Kurdistan: The following new Early Day Motion (EDM), entitled ‘Media Freedom in Turkey’, has been tabled in the UK Parliament : Turkey’s media crackdown and the disproportionate targeting of Kurdish or pro-Kurdish media has been receiving more and more attention from international NGO’s and activists. In particular, the Committee for the Protection of…
Iran: IHRDC reports ‘On the Margins’ – book review
By Michael Rubin: The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) has existed for less than a decade, but it has already established itself as among the most serious and least politicized human rights organizations. Amnesty International may make headlines, but it too often conflates leftist politics with human rights advocacy. Human Rights Watch (HRW), too,…
Iraqi Kurdistan: Journalist gets two years in prison
News Release By Human Rights Watch: (Beirut) – The Erbil Appellate Court should immediately set aside the October 7, 2012, conviction of an independent journalist who reported on alleged corruption in the regional government’s security agency. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities should conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into allegations that the journalist, Karzam…
Asos Hardi assault trial adjourned
KT News and Comment: The Sulaymani high court has adjourned until 21 November the trial of two men accused of assaulting Awene editor-in-chief Asos Hardi. Asos Hardi was attacked by armed men in August 2011. Local police arrested four people and charged two of them. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet…
44 journalists before a Turkish tribunal: A shameful press trial – for Europe as well as for Turkey!
By Doğan Özgüden: Doğan Özgüden, Info-Türk Chief Editor, issued the following declaration on September 9, 2012, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the beginning of his journalistic career in Turkey: I began journalism in the Republic of Turkey at the age of 16 years in Izmir on September 9, 1952. It was the…
Attempted killers of journalist Ahmed Mira given amnesty
News from KT: The two men jailed for attempting to murder Livinpress editor Ahmed Mira have been released under a general amnesty issued by President Barzani and approved by the Kurdistan parliament . In Nov 2008 the Sulaymani security office charged these men and a court sentenced them sentenced to six years in jail. Bookmark…
Karzan Karim case discussed with US Embassy officials
News from KT: The chairman of Metro (the Centre for the Defence of Journalism in Kurdistan) met today with advisors from the US embassy in Baghdad to discuss the case of Karzan Karim, the journalist detained for alleged ‘national security’ reasons although his supporters say that he was arrested because he was about to expose…
Detained journalist Karzan Karim was ‘about to expose corruption at Hawler airport’
News and Comment by KT: Friends of the detained Hawler journalist Karzan Karim have refuted government claims that he is being held for national security reasons and compared his case to that of murdered journalist Sardasht Osman. Karzan Karim is a young freelance journalist who was kidnapped from his home during November last year by…
