The year 2024 marked another setback for media freedom in Iraq. Data recorded throughout the year by the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq revealed a troubling rise in violations against journalists. These figures reflected a reality that disregarded constitutional protections and contravened international standards concerning press freedom. Consequently, the working conditions for media professionals have deteriorated significantly, with harassment or violence against journalists reported almost daily.
The recorded violations took various forms, including assassinations, bans on coverage, physical assaults, threats, lawsuits, arrest warrants, raids, job terminations, and the blocking of journalists and news websites. These actions were often carried out by government institutions operating beyond their mandate.
The pervasive influence of certain government institutions was evident, as security agencies frequently employed heavy-handed and police-like tactics. In many cases, these actions were either directly ordered by senior security officials or the result of individual officers’ personal decisions.
Authoritarians targeted journalists through their agents or by shielding perpetrators from accountability. They also weaponized the judiciary, filing defamation lawsuits based on outdated laws from the 1960s and 1970s. Such judicial harassment has escalated alarmingly, pursuing journalists wherever they go under the pretext that exposing corruption constitutes a form of defamation.
Independent bodies and professional unions have also played a significant role in suppressing and intimidating journalists. Their efforts to censor the harsh realities of life in Iraq included imposing restrictions on media outlets, issuing warnings, and arbitrarily barring individuals from appearing in the media at the whims of powerful figures.
The Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, which should have been a defender of journalists’ rights, instead emerged as a source of repression, according to the report. It filed lawsuits against journalists, revoked work licenses for newspapers, and even issued directives to governmental organizations prohibiting collaboration with journalists critical of the syndicate or its leadership. s syndicate’s experts added to the attitude by issuing a number of recommendations to the courts concerning reaching the sentences against the journalists who had been sued by governmental sides.
Armed factions have continued to raid television stations and vandalize their equipment with impunity. This persists due to the weak performance of government security forces, which fail to protect media institutions. Instead, some independent bodies align with the agendas of these factions, further exacerbating the problem.
In 2024, the total number of violations against journalists reached 457. These included cases of detention, injuries, armed raids on journalists’ homes and media offices, physical assaults, obstruction of journalistic work, and lawsuits filed against media professionals; detailed as follows:
• Journalist Victims: 5 killed and 1 critically injured.
• Detentions: 23 cases.
• Arrests: 11 cases.
• Armed Attacks: 7 cases.
• Prevention and Obstruction of Coverage: 280 cases.
• Physical Assaults: 17 cases.
• Lawsuits Filed Against Journalists: 68 cases.
• Violations by the Communications and Media Commission: 17 cases.
• Blocking and Banning: 9 news websites, television programs, and journalist accounts.
• Violations by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate: 7 cases.
• Direct Threats: 2 journalists.
• Other Violations: 10 cases.
The Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq’s monitoring over the past months identified May as the month with the highest number of violations (82 cases), followed by April with 58 cases, out of the total violations recorded during the year.
Regarding geographic distribution, Erbil and Baghdad topped the list of cities with the most violations against journalists, recording 103 and 100 cases, respectively, followed by Sulaymaniyah with 58 cases.
:
To read the report, click on the following link
Press Calls SOS after a Year of Criminalization
