12/12/2020
Asaish forces continue to target press and media crews in the areas and cities of protests for the third day in a row, arresting the staff of Kurdistan 24 TV, hours ago while performing their duties inside a popular market in Sulaimania.
The coordinator of Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq in Kurdistan confirmed that the arrest of colleagues Dalia Kamal, Hardy Hassan, and Barham Jamal was while they were in a popular market in Sulaimania, to prepare a report on the living situation there, pointing out that the force confiscated the staff equipment and took them to an unknown destination.
The Association has recently recorded the high frequency of arrests and detentions of journalists by Al-Asaish at the time of the start of demonstrations in Sulaimania, the fourth case after the arrest of the crews of the “Iraqia” and “Rodaw” and “Biam” satellite channels.
The association considers the continued detention of journalists as a dangerous precedent, as well as a flagrant violation of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of journalistic and media work.
The association calls on the federal government to act quickly and immediately to find a solution to stop the detention of journalists in the province, protect them from the tyranny of power, and to intervene responsibly to free journalists who remain in prison and face an unknown fate.
