Media banned from covering protest in Kirkuk

20/1/2021

A security protection officer of the Kirkuk Oil Company has banned staff from covering student protests.

Kirkuk Now correspondent Karwan Al-Salhi told the Press Freedom Advocacy Association that he and his colleague, Anadol correspondent Eugene Ramadan arrived wednesday morning at the oil company’s site to cover protests by a number of graduates demanding employment, and were surprised to be prevented by a security officer who was responsible for protecting facilities.

Karwan said he had told the officer about his mission and identified himself, but the associate insisted that they be banned from filming, threatening to break their press equipment if they did not leave the company’s site at once.

The Association for Press Freedom in Iraq condemns the ban on colleagues from performing their duties, andconsiders the incident a clear violation of the freedom of journalistic work.

The association also received numerous complaints from Kirkuk journalists expressing their displeasure with the security forces’ interference during covering events in the province.

The association calls on the security services and responsible leaders in Kirkuk to stop preventing journalists from performing their duties, and observe the principles of freedom of journalistic work, and to refrain from discrimination between journalists,and to comply with the constitution.