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Iraqi Kurdish authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Karzan Tariq and Chenar Ahmed and cease harassing members of the press, said the US press freedom organisation the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday.
On Monday morning, security forces (Asayish) members detained Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) reporter Tariq and his cameraman, Ahmed, while they were interviewing people in Sulaymaniyah’s bazaar about Iraqi Kurdistan’s economic situation.
Sulaymaniyah security forces are mainly managed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and they take orders from PUK leaders and officials.
The security forces confiscated the journalists’ equipment and phones, and did not disclose any reason for their arrests, NRT manager Mariwan Hassan, told CPJ. “That statement said the pair was arrested at the order of the Kurdistan region’s Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani ‘without any justification or court order.’”
Tariq and Ahmed “did not commit any crimes or violations, they were doing their journalistic work to get people’s opinions,” he added that this was “not the first time” that security forces had detained employees of the broadcaster.
