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By Reporters Without Borders: Reporters Without Borders is stunned by Paris-based TV satellite operator Eutelsat’s decision to stop carrying the broadcasts of Copenhagen-based Kurdish TV station Roj TV on the grounds that a Danish court found it guilty of supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed separatist group regarded by Turkey as a terrorist…
By Koshan Ali Khidhir: The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is making progress in various areas; media and technology have wide popularity, especially during elections or problematic periods. This report considers how Facebook and other social media networks have changed the relations between Kurdish citizens and their leaders. To what extent has Facebook become a campaigning…
By Mufid Abdulla: For a long time in the south of Kurdistan attention has been focused on how journalism operates. The grassroots want the truth and the two ruling parties want to hide the truth. In recent times, two brave journalists have been murdered and dozens beaten. However, there is also a battle within journalism:…
By Reporters Without Borders: Reporters Without Borders condemns yesterday’s illegal arrest and beating of Lvin Magazine editor Ahmed Mira by special forces in Sulaymaniyah, in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. Mira was held for three hours before being freed by a judge. “It was 12:30 pm when men in the military uniform of the special…
One of the alleged attackers of Asos Hardi, editor-in-chief of Awena, has been arrested by the authorities in Sulaymani following a joint operation by the police and intelligence service (Asysh). His arrest has been confirmed on Asos Hardi’s Facebook page. Awena newspaper has reported that it has information indicating that a high-ranking member of the…
By the Committee to Protect Journalists: New York, August 31, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday’s brutal assault on Kurdish journalist Asos Hardi and calls on Kurdish authorities to immediately take steps to bring the perpetrators to justice. Hardi, director of the Awene Press and Publishing Company which houses the independent newspaper Awene, was…
By Human Rights Watch: (Beirut) – The Kurdistan Regional Government should conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the attack on the prominent journalist Asos Hardi on August 29, 2011, and prosecute whoever is responsible, Human Rights Watch said today. Hardi is the director of the Awene Press and Publishing Company, which publishes the…
Asos Hardi, the Editor-in-Chief of the local Kurdistan Region newspaper Awena, was tonight attacked by a gang of unknown armed men who were waiting for him outside his office and battered him about the head with pistol butts. The Awena newspaper is located on Salm Street, Sulaymani. Asos was attacked as he left work and…
By Reporters Without Borders: Many journalists have been the target of deliberate physical attacks in the past week as police officers and members of the security forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main parties that form the government in Iraqi Kurdistan, looked on without intervening. In one incident, reporters…
Update at 18.00 hrs GMT: Ahmed Mira has been released from custody following pressure exerted on the authorities by democrats and free press supporters. However, Ahmed is still due to appear in court again on Wednesday and so there is no cause for complacency. Ahmed Mira, editor in chief of Lvinpress, was jailed in Hawler…
Editorial by Mufid Abdulla: The letter by Falah Mustafa Bakir to the head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) is part of a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) public relations exercise. Written on behalf of the KRG prime minister, it seeks to repair damage done to the government’s international reputation by media coverage of the KRG’s harsh crackdown…
According to sources at Lvin press, since Wednesday night police have made several attempts to arrest Ahmed Mira, the magazine’s editor in chief . These attempts have included visits to his house, his office and his father’s house. Ahmed Mira is guilty of nothing except writing and publishing articles about the activities of two ruling parties….
By Hiwa Osman: The Iraqi constitution describes Iraq as a democratic, federalist country in which no law shall be passed that contradicts the values of Islam and democracy. But in practice this rarely applies. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post
Editorial by Mufid Abdulla: The Christian Science Monitor has published an excellent article by Dan Murphy. Noting the international media’s portrayal of Kurdistan as an “America-loving, western-leaning success story”, he says recent events expose a darker reality: Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this…
Journalists beaten, sued, detained, threatened with death Press release by Human Rights Watch (New York, May 24, 2011) – Kurdistan regional government officials and security forces are carrying out a growing assault on the freedom of journalists to work in Iraqi Kurdistan, Human Rights Watch said today. Regional officials should stop repressing journalists through libel…
