July 4, 2025
A force affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), identifying itself as “PMF Intelligence,” assaulted the crews of four media institutions while they were covering the explosion of a drone in Kirkuk province.
Journalists in Kirkuk informed the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq that members of the PMF seized the journalists’ equipment and mobile phones at the scene of the incident. They confirmed that the force confiscated all media gear, deleted photos and video footage taken at the explosion site, and held the journalists’ cameras and tools for over an hour.
According to the journalists, the force detained and mistreated the crews of:
• KurdSat Media, including reporter Karwan Mohammed and cameraman Kazan Kakay Rash,
• Kirkuk Media, represented by reporter Diyar Kamal and cameraman Derbaz Mahmoud,
• Kirkuk Plus, consisting of reporter Zrik Omar and cameraman Shvan Abdulrahman,
• Kurdistan TV, including reporter Halo Jabari and cameraman Ako Bani.
The Press Freedom Advocacy Association strongly condemns this blatant violation of press freedom and considers it a serious infringement on the rights of Kirkuk’s journalists, as well as a clear breach of the Iraqi Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press and expression in all forms.
The association calls on security forces to refrain from using repressive and forceful tactics to obstruct the work of journalists and suppress the truth from reaching the public.
