The security forces (Asayish) of Sulaimaniya northern province in civilian and military uniforms committed a series of violations in the form of arrests, assaults and expulsions, preventing coverage and beating of journalists covering teachers' protests against the non-payment of their monthly salaries.
The violations were recorded on February 24 at night on the Sulaimani-Arbat road, where protesting teachers had set up tents and did not allow any oil tankers to pass, causing tension.
At least 12 journalists and media staff from six media outlets were harassed by security forces.
The story of the violation
Chawarwan Mahmoud and Fakhir Ezadin of Sharpress.net, were two of the journalists who were hit by Asayish.
"When we arrived at the scene, there was tension. Some people were throwing stones at the tankers that wanted to pass,” Ezadin said. “We wanted to report the incident live on Sharpress. Before starting, the civil security came with two cameras of other media outlets. They took ours as well.”
He stressed that they told the security forces that they were journalists and had not taken any videos or photos yet, but to no avail and said they should either handed it over or will break it.
According to a video released by Sharpress, their reporter Chawarwan Mahmoud says, "Who are you? Why should we give you cameras? What right do you have to take them away from us?"
On February 9, Security forces of Erbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region IKR, committed a series of violations against journalists and media outlets while covering the demonstrations of teachers and employees in the "Degala" town, in the middle of Sulaimaniya-Erbil highway.
The violations occurred when demonstrators, mostly teachers, from Sulaymaniyah attempted to cross the Degala checkpoint to deliver their demands to the United Nations office in Erbil but were prevented from passing.
"They pulled the camera for five minutes and we didn't give it to them, until someone slapped a receiver and broke it and took the camera and mobile phone from us," Ezadin told KirkukNow.
"The security forces of Sulaimani seized the journalistic equipment of the Sharpress team during their coverage on the Arbat-Sulaimani road and attacked them," Sharpress said in a statement.
Sharpress says it “is another initiative of private and free journalism, created by the efforts of a group of independent journalists. It is to deliver news and information to its readers in a timely and professional manner.”
Local and international media outlets, organizations, advocates and lawmakers have expressed their grave concern that press freedom is increasingly under threat in the IKR.
The Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy reported 182 cases of violations against journalists and media channels in the IKR, including 24 cases of journalists arrested without court warrant, compared to 249 violations in 2023.
Three hours of violation
Tensions near the teachers' protests began after 10 pm, when one of the protesting teachers said in a video, "Come to our aid, security forces have started kidnapping journalists.”
The teachers also warned that "the authorities have sent some unknown people with a scenario to create tension between teachers and truck drivers and forcibly end the tents of the strikers.”
Wishyar Mohammed, a reporter for Payam TV, was another journalist who was arrested and released at around 1 am, according to a statement issued by the channel.
Zhiyan web TV reporter Mardin Mohammed and cameraman Mohammed Ahmad were two of the journalists who were harassed.
"I was informed by my agency that a force had gone to the strikers' tent near Arbat and asked me to go and cover it,” Mohammed said. “When I arrived there, tensions erupted. Six to seven tankers passed by and protestors were hitting it with stones. Asayish did not allow us to coverage.”
"They hit me on my back several times to give them the camera and kicked Sharpress reporter Chawarwan Mahmoud," Mardin added.
"Asayish forces were constantly following us. While running, Sharpress reporter Chawarwan Mahmoud fell to the ground and was in great pain," he said.
After the tension escalated, the journalists headed from Arbat to Sulaimaniya, but were detained at the Arbat checkpoint until about 1 pm, but on condition that they handover all other journalistic equipment. They were released on the same condition.
KNN, Speda, Diplomatic Magazine and Moral Web TV reported that they had been subjected to violations in the form of prevention of coverage and confiscation of their journalistic materials.
Payam TV said its reporter Wishyar Mohammed has been kidnapped.
"Chawarwan Mahmoud received first aid at Arbat Hospital, then was sent to Shar Hospital where she was examined and sent home at 3 am due to falling and injuries," Ezadin said.
Violations condemned
Azad Hamademin, the head of Kurdistan Union of Journalists, KUJ condemned the violations committed against journalists Monday night and stressed that "journalists were violently treated while they were trying to cover the protesting teachers' gathering as their professional duty."
“In this behavior, the security forces violently dispersed the journalists and chased them away. A number of reporters were arrested and two were injured. Journalists' equipment was broken and confiscated.”
He called for the officials of the security forces to be brought to justice for failing to comply with the journalism law.
According to the first paragraph of Article 7 of the Kurdistan Regional Government's Journalism Law of 2007, journalists are independent in the performance of their professional duties and there is no authority over them except the authority of the law. Article 4 of the same article states that "journalists have the right to attend congresses and public activities.
The Security Agency of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement that the law enforcement agencies arrived at the scene of the incident and took legal measures to calm the situation, without mentioning any violations against journalists.
Metro Center said in a statement that the attack on teachers under the tent of Arbat, attack on journalists, torture, confiscating and breaking their belongings “is the true face of the regime's policy against peaceful civil struggle and the repetition of Degala scenario in dealing with protests and freedom of press which is shameful for its perpetrators.”
According to applicable law, journalists can file complaints against those who commit violations against them.
The Sulaimaniya branch of the (KUJ) called on any journalist who has been beaten or arrested or his journalistic equipment confiscated to jointly file a complaint against the other party “to get their rights and the press law to have the final say not social media.”
"So far, no journalist or media outlet has come to file a legal complaint," the statement affirmed.
