The newly released report recorded 44 cases, some of them targeted at individual media professionals while others concern groups of journalists or media organisations. The media and journalists’ rights violations documented include eight arrests of journalists, 22 media coverage bans, six attacks and insults against media workers, two threats issued against media professionals, four confiscations of media equipment, and two cases in which journalists were beaten.
In total, 84 media organisations and journalists endured attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan in the first half of 2023.
The highest number of assaults occurred in Erbil, the region’s capital, where the KJS registered 14 cases, followed by the governorate of Duhok in northern Iraqi Kurdistan, where 10 cases were documented, and the governorate of Sulaymaniyah, located in the east of the region, with 8 violations documented.
Download the KJS’s report here.
“We welcome the work that the KJS has conducted, documenting the violations of media and journalists’ rights in Iraqi Kurdistan,” said IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger. “Attacks against journalists and media workers must cease as they pose a grave threat to the democratic process in the region, while stifling press freedom and the citizens’ right to know. We call on the government of the Kurdistan region to ensure that the perpetrators of these assaults do not go unpunished and to guarantee a safe environment for journalists and media workers.”