KDP
lifts lawsuits against independent Kurdish
journalists, writers
January
10, 2011
ERBIL-Hewlęr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — A top official from one
of the two main parties in Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan region said on Monday that the party has
decided to withdraw all lawsuits it had filed
against Kurdish journalists.
"As a goodwill gesture, we announce that we have
decided to withdraw all lawsuits and complaints
registered against newspapers and writers,"
Nechirvan Barzani, deputy head of the Kurdish
Democratic Party (KDP) said at a news conference.
"We hope to see responsible work" from Kurdistan's
journalists, said Barzani, nephew of the Kurdistan
president Massoud Barzani.
Media rights groups and editors of Kurdistan
publications had said that newspapers and
journalists in the region had been hit by a barrage
of lawsuits from political parties and politicians,
especially from the KDP.
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“The KDP is not against freedom of expression at
all,” said Nechirvan Barzani. |
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When previously asked
about the lawsuits, the KDP said it was merely
defending itself.
"The reason for the KDP resorting to filing a large
number of lawsuits against journalists is...
self-defence," Ari Harseen of the party's media
office said.
In the last six months the semiautonomous region of
Iraqi Kurdistan has seen a spate of litigation cases
lodged against the media by political parties – 60
in total – that has alarmed both local civil society
organizations and international media watchdogs.
The KDP, as one of the two ruling parties in the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has faced
particular criticism, because it has been the major
complainant in these cases, and it has targeted only
independent and opposition journalists and writers.
“The KDP is not against freedom of expression at
all,” said Barzani, in an exclusive
interview with Rudaw – his first with the media
since he was elected KDP deputy chairman in
mid-December.
“We have always said there should be dialogue
between journalists and the authorities, rather than
hatred and animosity. Journalists should have free
access to information.”
Aras Harseen, Kurdistan Democratic Party’s media
secretary in Sulaimaniyah office, in a news
conference stated that the party lifted its lawsuits
against both authors, Aras Fatah and Mariwan Wrya
Qani, KIU website reported.
Reporters Without Borders RSF voices its
support for a demonstration being
organized in Kurdistan last week, to defend media freedom and free
expression in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
The two Kurdish academics, Mariwan Wrya Qani and
Aras Fatah, are being prosecuted over the column
they wrote jointly for the 8 June 2010 issue of the
independent newspaper Awene entitled “What did the
Kurdistan regional president say?”
The KDP, as one of the two ruling parties in the
Kurdistan Regional Government, has filed dozens of
lawsuits against those media, independent
journalists and writers that criticized it.
The KDP and the KRG have recently been subject to
some searing criticism over the passing of the
Demonstration Law, which is viewed by many as an
attempt to suppress freedom of speech, and has
caused a wave of protests throughout the region.
However, with the lifting of the defamation
lawsuits, Barzani, who has pledged reform in the KDP,
is taking his first concrete step toward supporting
freedom of the press in Iraqi Kurdistan.
“I applaud him [Barzani] and this is perhaps part of
the reform measures he has promised to undertake,”
said Sirwan Rashid, managing editor of Rozhnama,www.ekurd.netan
opposition Gorran party newspaper.
“Personally, I believe it is a progressive step
taken by the KDP and particularly by Kak Nechirvan,”
said Rashid, using a respectful Kurdish word for
“mister,” adding that he hoped there would be more
reforms on the way from the KDP.
Just hours before Barzani announced his pledge to
rescind the lawsuits, Erbil’s Primary Court ordered
non-partisan Lvin magazine to pay the KDP 35 million
Iraqi dinars (approximately US$30,000) as a result
of a defamation lawsuit lodged by the party. Lvin is
appealing the case.
According to RSF, one lawsuit filed by the KDP
against magazine Rozhnama sought one billion dollars
in damages.
The lawsuit was over an article that "accused the
KDP and its ruling coalition partner, the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK), of helping to smuggle
refined petroleum products from Kurdistan into Iran
in violation of the international sanctions," RSF
said.
“These lawsuits have damaged the KDP’s reputation a
great deal,” said Lvin’s deputy editor, Hemin Baqir.
“We see this as a reasonable decision from the KDP.
It will restore part of the KDP’s damaged
reputation.”
But, Baqir said other influential KDP members had
often prevented Barzani’s promises from eventuating
in the past.
“He can’t make final decisions,” said Baqir. “[But]
since he is now the actual deputy-chairman of the
KDP, we hope that the KDP respects his decision.”
Barzani said the work of journalists and writers was
to provide information, criticize and promote
dialogue.
“Not only are we not against that, but also we see
it as our duty to safeguard their freedom,” he said,
adding that he hoped his initiative would pave the
way for a media, which saw its sole duty as being to
report facts, rather than to publish libel.
“We hope that this step is taken in good faith,”
said Barzani. “[We] urge journalists to become more
responsible. Journalists should not work with
hatred, [as] this has nothing to do with freedom of
speech or the media.”
Barzani said everyone in Kurdistan was subject to
criticism, without exception.
“We believe criticizing the work and performance of
the President of the Kurdistan Region and the
government is normal and positive,” he said. “It is
the people’s right as President Barzani is the
leader of the people, and the government is the
government of the people.”
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
AFP |
rudaw.net | ekurd.net |
kurdiu.org | Agencies
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