2/9/2020
Sulaimaniyah police force arrested Shawan Adel, director of NRT satellite channel, on wednesdayafternoon after raiding the channel building.
A statement issued by the channel said Adel was arrested on two files, one of which was filed by Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed, sister of Heru Ibrahim wife of the late president Jalal Talabani, on defamation charges, shortly after the channel published a report indicating herpartnership in a housing project.
The lawyer said the other charge against the channel’s director is related to copyright, filed by a citizen, claiming that he owned the video rights and that the channel had stolen it from him.
Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq, which affirms its support for the law and the judiciary, warns of a political conspiracy against NRT satellite channel aimed at completely shutting it down, especially after its offices in Dohuk, Erbil and other areas of the Kurdistan region were closed by the authorities, as well as the Ministry of Culture in the region wrote to the attorney general urging him to file a lawsuit against the channel on the claim of inciting demonstrations and violence.
The Association calls on the judicial authorities not to submit to the political pressures exerted by the territorial Government against journalists, and to backthe constitution, freedom of expression, the press, the media and the constitutionally guaranteed publishing rights.
