Nasr Ali, head of Rudaw’s Duhok office, cameraman Shalaw Qaradaxi, and driver Mohammed Ahmed left for Shingal early Monday morning with the intention of doing a feature report on Shingal for the anniversary of the genocide. In the town, a group of men allegedly affiliated with a militia of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) attempted to abduct them, before the Iraqi army intervened. The Rudaw team returned safely to Duhok the same day.
Ali and the team know the area well, frequently reporting from and about Shingal. There are numerous forces and armed groups operating in the area – Peshmerga, Iraqi army, PMF, and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ali planned their route carefully and in advance he contacted and received permission from the local government, the Iraqi army, and police to travel to and report from Shingal. They did not plan to enter areas controlled by the PKK or the Lalish brigade, a Yazidi brigade within the PMF.
On the 160 kilometre drive from Duhok to Shingal, through Mosul and Tal Afar, there are about 25 checkpoints. The first three are manned by the Kurdish Peshmerga, the others belong to the Iraqi army, PMF, and some police.
About two kilometres before Tal Afar is the Keske checkpoint, controlled by the Iraqi army. The team was stopped here for about an hour and a half. They were carrying a media license from the Iraqi communications and Media Commission, but the forces at the checkpoint wanted more authorization. With the assistance of Rudaw’s head office, they received the consent of Brig. Gen. Jabar Na'im, head of Shingal and Western Dijlah operations for the Iraqi army, and were allowed to proceed on their way.
They arrived in central Shingal at 12:30 pm and began preparing to film near the silo, a landmark on the main road in an area that is under the control of the Iraqi army, who have a post about 500 metres away.
“Moments after our arrival, a military vehicle and a car with tinted windows stopped us. Eight people, many of whom had their faces covered, appeared,” Ali recounted.
The men did not identify themselves and did not question Ali and his team. They took their cell phones and forced the three Rudaw employees into their vehicles. As they tried to drive away, three Iraqi army vehicles pulled up and blocked the road. Two police officers had witnessed what happened and called the army.
The Iraqi soldiers asked the unidentified men who they were and where they were taking the Rudaw team, noting the media team are civilians. “They immediately replied saying, 'There must have been a misunderstanding',” Ali recounted.
The head of the Shingal operations room was called to the scene. He called Khal Ali, commander of the PMF’s Lalish brigade. “The reason why he called Khal Ali was that the group said that they were associated with Khal Ali,” Ali said.
Everyone was brought to the Shingal operations office for questioning. “They started questioning us, the group and Khal Ali,” said Ali.
The Iraqi army arrested two of the eight men. The Rudaw team was then sent to the Shingal police for further investigation.
“Khal Ali apologized to us,” said Ali.
Rudaw English reached out to Khal Ali, but he was not immediately available for comment.
The police called the Shingal office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the head of the branch, Ashti Kochar, helped arrange for the Rudaw team to safely leave Shingal with police giving them an escort to Tal Afar. They arrived back in Duhok at 8pm.
“What happened to us was a plot and previously planned, because they attacked us before we even started filming. Their goal was to abduct us. The head of the Shingal police told us that had the Iraqi army not arrived on the scene, our fate would have been very bad,” said Ali.
He does not know why he and his team were targeted.
This is not the first time Rudaw staff have faced problems with the PMF in the Shingal area.
On February 24, Rudaw’s Shingal reporters Tahsin Qasim and cameraman Naif Ido were briefly detained by PMF Brigade 21. Approaching members of the brigade for an interview, Qasim said they seized when the armed men learned they were from Rudaw.
“They said ‘You are from Kurdistan. The government and Peshmerga sent you to observe our weapons and presence’,” Qasim said at the time. “They tried to tie our hands, but we resisted. The regiment commander told us, ‘Hashd will make you disappear.’ Then they took us to Tal Afar in a pickup truck.”
“Seyyid Mukhtar the brigade commander told us ‘If you were not Yazidis, you would never go home’,” Qasim said. “He told us you are trying to spy on us, take videos and send it to Peshmerga and KDP Asayish.”
The reporters were released after they signed a statement and were told to never report from the area again.
