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RSF condemns a wave of violence in the
past three days in Iraqi Kurdistan
7.12.2011 |
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News
media torched, journalists attacked and arrested in
outbreak of violence in Iraqi Kurdistan
December
7, 2011
PARIS, —
Reporters Without Borders condemns a wave of
violence in the past three days in Iraqi Kurdistan
in which media premises have been torched and
journalists have been targeted in several of this
autonomous region’s cities. The press freedom
organization is alarmed by the incidents and urges
the authorities to investigate all of them.
The wave of violence was set off by attacks on
massage salons and shops selling alcohol in Dohuk (a
city to the northeast of Erbil) after Friday prayers
on 2 December. That night, buildings belonging to
the opposition Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and
media affiliated to the party were set on fire in
Dohuk. Since then, six news media have been torched
and at least 15 journalists have been physically
attacked or detained for questioning.
That night, the premises of Speda, a KIU
satellite TV station, and
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Speda cameraman Murad Fouad was attacked in Dohuk
and his camera was broken, while a Xabur TV
cameraman was detained. |
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the local
KIU radio and TV station in Zakho, a town in Dohuk
province, were torched. The offices of the KIU’s
student wing in Zakho were also set on fire.
The same night, security forces attacked a Speda
crew while it was covering the arson attack on the
KIU’s headquarters in Dohuk. Cameraman Abdullah
Ahmed was roughed up and his camera was broken. The
website of KNN, another opposition TV station,
reported that KNN journalists were attacked in the
town of Smel and their equipment was confiscated. A
reporter for Naliya Radio and Television (NRT),
another satellite TV station, was also physically
attacked by six armed men in Smel.
According to the head of the KIU in Zakho, nine
journalists working for KIU-affiliated media,
including radio Xabur, were briefly detained by
security forces. The journalists included Delbrin
Yusef, Islam Saedi, Usama Nerdin, Delbrin Haji, Samr
Ubed, Maher Sagvan and Bilal Jumha.
According to the news website Kurdiu, shots were
also fired at the Speda and KNN offices in Erbil the
same night.
Al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed Zawetay was filming a
burning KIU building in Dohuk at around 10:30 a.m.
on 3 December when he was attacked by plainclothes
security men and Zeravani – members of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP), one of the two ruling
parties in Kurdistan. Zawetay said his camera was
confiscated and several other Al-Jazeera journalists
were also targeted.
Journalists were harassed in Erbil on 3 December
while covering demonstrations by KIU supporters. A
reporter and a photographer working for the
newspaper Xandan’s website were detained for 30
minutes by security forces. The reporter Darbaz
Saleh told Kurdiu: “I was covering a demonstration
along with other journalists when the police
arrested me and confiscated my equipment (...) The
police have my computer, camera, audio recorder and
notebook.”
Journalists working for KNN, Speda and Somar News
were physically attacked in Sulaymaniyah on 3
December while covering a peace protest against the
previous night’s arson attack on the KIU’s offices.
Speda cameraman Osama Sindi was detained by security
forces in the city of Dohuk yesterday. News media
were forbidden to cover a fire at a massage salon in
Sulaymaniyah yesterday evening. Kurdiu reporter
Diyar Faruq was briefly detained in Sulaymaniyah.
NRT presenter Dildar Harki meanwhile received a
threatening phone call on 3 December about an
interview broadcast on 1 December in which Delbar
Zebari,www.ekurd.net
the vice-president of the council of Mosul province,
talked about the long-standing political rivalry
between the Zebari and Barzani families. In response
to the widespread criticism of his comments,
especially in the pro-KDP news media, NRT issued a
statement saying they did not reflect the station’s
editorial position.
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author or news agency,
rsf.org | Reporters sans frontières
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