HRW has ‘generalized’ violations against protesters and journalists: KRG official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A top human rights watchdog’s criticism of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) treatment of protesters and journalists is misrepresentative, claims a KRG official.

In their annual report released on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted the arrest of “dozens of people planning to participate in protests against delayed government salaries” in the Kurdistan Region in May.

They also reported that KRG security forces “beat and arbitrarily detained protesters and journalists” in August.

Angry over months-long delays in receiving their salaries, civil servants and their supporters staged large protests in the city of Sulaimani, beginning on December 2. The demonstrations quickly spread to other areas of the province, and to the province of Halabja. Security forces were deployed in large numbers and used tear gas, live and rubber bullets, and water cannons in an attempt to end the protests.

Nine protesters were killed, and two security force members also died – one was killed in a clash with demonstrators in Penjwen, and another died of a stroke while on duty at a protest. At least 60 people were injured.

KRG Coordinator for International Advocacy Dindar Zebari claims that HRW has “generalized” the situation in the Region.

“We have given an explanation to HRW about the Kurdistan Region, for example we have pointed out that there is a law in the region for protesting,” noted the official.

“Approaches taken by the government were to keep the peace and stability of the region,” Zebari told Rudaw’s Hawar Jalaladin on Thursday.

“We ask the HRW – if they are going to accuse the KRG, we want them to be specific and not to generalize. We have opened our doors to the HRW – in Iraq they do not have the freedom to come and go like they do here,” he added.

The HRW report also notes that those critical of the government, including journalists, activists, and protesters, were targeted with several defamation and incitement provisions.

“The KRG used similar laws in force in the Kurdistan Region to curb free speech, including the penal code, the Press Law, and the Law to Prevent the Misuse of Telecommunications Equipment,” reads the report.

Rudaw Media Network and several other outlets were issued a warning from the KRG’s Ministry of Youth and Culture in December, which asked the channels to refrain from broadcasting “violent scenes” amid ongoing protests across the Kurdistan Region.

“Severe legal action" will be taken against outlets broadcasting "scenes of violence" and the "burning down of political party offices and government buildings," or material that incites "violence or sabotage or the disturbing of social cohesion," read the order sent to Rudaw.

The Sulaimani offices of opposition outlet NRT were closed by security forces on December 7, and several of their reporters were arrested later that week during the protests.

The government claimed NRT disregarded a previous directive and had continued to "incite" the public to violent acts, according to an administrative order from Shirwan Aula, the acting director of the Ministry of Culture and Youth’s Broadcasting and Publishing directorate.

“We have not arrested anyone for doing their job as journalists, unless they have played a part in violence or done something illegal,” Zebari claimed. “We should talk about the reason someone was arrested, not their job titles.”

With regards to capital punishment, the HRW report praised the Region for its “de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2008, banning it ‘except in very few cases which were considered essential.’”

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