ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region authorities are again receiving international criticism for their record on press freedom in connection with a new arrest and prison terms for journalists.
New York-based press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday called for the immediate release of TV presenter Islam Kashani who was arrested on Thursday. And global human rights monitor Amnesty International on Thursday made an urgent appeal for the release of two jailed journalists, Sherwan Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari, who were both recently handed more jail time.
The Kurdistan Region’s record on freedom of expression and the press has been under close scrutiny since the 2020 arrests of journalists among a number of others during anti-government protests in Duhok over unpaid salaries. In 2021, the United Nations mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said it had observed “an increasingly repressive pattern of active curtailment of freedom of expression.”
UNAMI’s report was one of several damning statements from human rights monitors and international allies who raised concerns about the independence of Kurdistan Region’s judicial system and the human rights situation in the wake of the trials of the journalists, including Sherwani and Zebari who have both received new prison terms.
“Journalists Sherwan Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari, imprisoned in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) since October 2020 following a grossly unfair trial, are facing new spurious charges,” Amnesty wrote on Thursday, urging the public to send an appeal for their freedom to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Sherwani, who was due to be released in September after a conviction of endangering the national security of the Kurdistan Region, was sentenced in July to four more years in jail in connection with his signature on a document on behalf of Zebari, who was in solitary confinement at the time.
Zebari’s prison sentence on the same national security charge was completed in March, but before he was released, an Erbil court sentenced him to seven more months in jail over the logo on his car, which was changed and his lawyer said was “not his fault.”
According to Amnesty, Zebari, who has been on hunger strike since August 16, was informed on Wednesday that authorities were bringing a new charge against him of possession of an unlicensed weapon, referring to an antique hunting weapon found in his sister’s home.
Kashani was arrested by security forces in Zakho on Thursday, according to Speda TV.
According to information obtained by CPJ, he was arrested because of his criticism of the government and corrupt practices by the ruling political parties. However, the Duhok branch of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate said security forces told them that he could have been arrested for other reasons.
Kurdish authorities “must end their pattern of detaining and intimidating journalists, and allow them to cover issues of public interest freely,” CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator Sherif Mansour said on Friday in reaction to the arrest of TV presenter Islam Kashani.
The Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate condemned Kashani’s arrest, saying it violates the Region's journalism law and "limits freedom of expression."
Zakho security forces (Asayish) confirmed Kashani’s arrest late Friday and accused him of having ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). “We do not allow any forces, groups or parties to pose a threat to the stability and security of the Kurdistan Region," the force said.
Asayish said the arrest was carried out with a warrant issued by a judge and denied committing any violations against the journalist.
It is unclear what Kashani is being charged with. Asayish said he was arrested under Law 23 of 2003. According to documents on the Kurdistan Parliament website, that law relates to maternity benefits. And association with the PKK is not criminalized in the Kurdistan Region.
The KRG has repeatedly defended its judicial system and asserted its respect for human rights and press freedom.
“If any violations are committed against journalists, they have the right to file a lawsuit and they will be treated as per the law,” KRG’s coordinator for international advocacy Dindar Zebari said in March in response to criticism in Amnesty’s annual human rights report.
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