24/2/2020
Security forces beat the head of the Office of the Kurdish Channel NRT in Kirkuk on Sunday.
The director of the channel’s office in Kirkuk, Fakhr eddin, told the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq that he was on a press mission with the channel’s correspondent Diar Mohammed and cameraman Ali Nordi, to cover the demonstration organized by the residents of al-Nasr neighborhood, near the maternity hospital in the area; rejecting the decision of the Kirkuk Health Directorate to allocate this hospital as a quarantine for Corona patients in the center of a residential city.
He pointed out that one of the security agents beat him and insulted him, and asked him to leave the place immediately, as soon as the staff arrived at the scene of the demonstration, and asked the security elements to start filming.
The Association considers the incident a flagrant constitutional violation that breaches the principles of press and media freedom in Iraq.
The association also calls on the security forces in Kirkuk to open an investigation into the incident, hold accountable the force that had beaten the journalists, and stop using unfair procedures to prevent the media from carrying out its duties.
