Amnesty International has spoken out against attacks on press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan, in a statement made ahead of the international day for press freedom. The organisation wrote “The authorities of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) must end their assault on the right to freedom of expression and press freedom, including the arbitrary detention, beating and grossly unfair trials of journalists.”
Amnesty pointed out that the repression of journalistic freedom has had a “chilling effect” in Iraqi Kurdistan, with many media workers forced into hiding or to flee the region. Many others are in jail.
Bissan Fakih, Amnesty International’s Iraq Campaigner, pointed out the hypocrisy of public statements made by authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan. He wrote: “The KR-I authorities boast that the Region is a ‘beacon of press freedom’, but that is a ludicrous claim given their crackdown on press freedom and the harassment, intimidation and prosecution of journalists, especially those who have reported on allegations of corruption and criticized authorities’ handling of social issues. The authorities’ assault on press freedoms has created a culture of fear engineered to stifle peaceful dissent and perpetuate impunity.”
The Metro Centre, a press freedom monitoring group, has recorded 27 attacks on journalists in 2023, and 37 media workers facing arrest. Amnesty’s own research shows that 10 journalists were summonsed or detained from January-March 2023. Others are already in prison, after unfair trials.
Amnesty International gave detailed examples of the repression of journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Qahraman Shukri was sentenced to seven years in prison, after criticising the Iraqi Kurdish authorities’ inaction over Turkish airstrikes. Amnesty has organised a letter writing campaign, calling for his freedom:
Shukri was “forcibly disappeared” for seven months, before his family received a phone call saying that he was in prison in Duhok. He told family members that he was beaten until he admitted to crimes that he didn’t commit. Duhok Criminal Court convicted him of “joining and spying for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and sharing material with them.”
Shukri’s brother, who is also a journalist, told Amnesty that he “left [Kurdistan] to protect my family because they lived in constant fear that I was also going to be arrested.”
Another journalist, Sherwan Sherwani, was arrested and disappeared for four months. Sherwani, whose work focused on human rights, was convicted of, what Amnesty refers to as, “bogus charges” of espionage, and spying for the PKK. Amnesty reported that “The trial was marred by serious violations of the right to a fair trial, including allegations of torture and other ill-treatment that were not investigated, the reliance on torture-tainted confessions, and a refusal to allow defence lawyers timely access to the case files.”
Amnesty’s Bissan Fakih concluded by saying “No one should face harassment and intimidation simply for carrying out their journalistic work. The KRG should immediately and unconditionally release all those detained solely for their journalistic work. Authorities should uphold human rights and press freedom and take credible steps to create a conducive environment where journalists can carry out their work safely and people are allowed to express critical opinions freely.”
