07/12/2020
A security force of the “Asayish” raided the headquarters of the NRT satellite channel in Sulaymaniyah at dawn on Monday, and confiscated its equipment.
The director of the channel’s office in Baghdad, Omid Mohammed, told the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq that the security force that raided the headquarters disconnected broadcasters and tampered with their contents before confiscating the channel’s equipment, adding that the force expelled all workers from the headquarters and closed the doors.
Omid indicated that the channel was transmitting the protests that took place in the Kurdistan region, especially in the Sulaymaniyah governorate, which erupted to demand to expedite the disbursement of late financial dues to government employees working in the region.
The closure of the channel’s office in Sulaymaniyah is the third of its kind within two months, after the closure of its offices in Erbil and Dohuk, against the backdrop of covering the demonstrations in the region.
The Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq refuses to close the headquarters of NRT, and considers it a flagrant constitutional violation to undermine the freedom of journalistic and media work, and a condemned dictatorial behavior.
The association calls on the region’s authorities to stop muzzling the journalists’ mouths and prosecuting them. It also holds the federal government responsible for silence over the constitutional violations committed in the region over the past few weeks.
The association also calls on international organizations to condemn the behavior of the region’s authorities in dealing with the media and journalists, especially since the association previously recorded the arrest of a number of journalists, one of whom is still in Kurdish detention on charges that have not been proven against him. it is Sherwan Sherwani.
