Journalist’s Home Raided for Criticizing the Ruling Party in Kurdistan

4/2/2023

A security force in Dohuk raided the home of Fakir Mohammed, a presenter at the “Goli Kurdistan” channel, to arrest him after criticizing the policy and performanceof the ruling Democratic Party in the Kurdistan region.

The Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq learned from its coordinator in the region, that Fakir, after the raid, was forced to leave his home and hide, indicating that the Asayish contacted the channel’s administration, to inform them of the need for the journalist to report to the Dohuk police station, but he preferred to escape.

It is noteworthy that Fakir recently criticized the policy of the ruling authority in the region in the confrontations of crises, especially its handling of demonstrations protesting the deteriorating recent situation, and the arrest of many opinion makers and journalists.

The Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq rejects the police methods taken by the authoritarian parties in the region against media workers that aims to muzzle the mouths and silencing voices. The process to undermine the freedom of press and media work in the region byraiding a journalist’s house to arrest and then prosecute him, is the ugliest form of constitutional violations, as well as introducing terror in the hearts of workers in the field of press and media, and dissuading them from performing their journalistic duties.

The Association calls on those in charge of power in the region, to stop prosecuting journalists, arresting or detaining them, terrorizing other opinion-holders, and to observe the principles of the constitution that guarantees freedom of media work in all its forms.

The Association calls on the international community to intervene to stop the cases of repression and intimidation that journalists in the Kurdistan region have been subjected to for years.