Iraq: Authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq must immediately end their assault on press freedom
The authorities of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) must
end their assault on the right to freedom of expression and press freedom,
including the arbitrary detention, beating and grossly unfair trials of
journalists, Amnesty International said today ahead of World Press Freedom Day.
The harassment, intimidation and attacks against journalists have had a
chilling effect on the right to freedom of expression and press freedom in the
KR-I, with many journalists forced to flee or go into hiding or give up
journalism altogether while many others remain in jail.
"The KR-I authorities boast that
the Region is a ‘beacon of press freedom’, but that is a ludicrous claim given
their crackdown on press freedom and the harassment, intimidation and
prosecution of journalists, especially those who have reported on allegations
of corruption and criticized authorities’ handling of social issues. The authorities’ assault on press freedoms
has created a culture of fear engineered to stifle peaceful dissent and
perpetuate impunity,” said Bissan Fakih, Amnesty International’s Iraq
Campaigner.
In 2023, the Metro Center, an organization working on the
protection of journalists’ rights in the KR-I, recorded 37 arrests of
journalists and 27 incidents of journalists facing attacks, threats, and
insults. In the first three months of 2024, according to Amnesty
International’s documentation, the KR-I authorities have detained or summoned
at least 10 journalists in relation to their journalism work. Others are
already serving prison sentences after grossly unfair trials.
Amnesty International spoke to
eight journalists and relatives of detained journalists and their lawyers, and
reviewed court documents pertaining to four cases against detained journalists
in the KR-I, all of whom spoke about the obstacles to freedom of the press in
the KR-I.
Arbitrary detention and unfair trials
Journalist Qahraman Shukri is currently serving a seven-year
prison sentence following a grossly unfair and secret trial. Before his arrest,
he was critical of the Kurdish authorities’ handling of Turkish air strikes in
the KR-I.
His brother, Zeravan Shukri, told Amnesty International that
in January 2021, the Asayish, the KR-I government’s primary security and
intelligence agency, violently arrested Qahraman during a raid in which they
knocked down the main door to his house in the Duhok governorate and dragged
him out of bed.
Qahraman Shukri was forcibly disappeared for four months,
until his family received a phone call from a member of the Asayish informing
them that he was being detained at Zerka Prison in Duhok. When his family
visited him for the first time in May 2021, Qahraman told them that security
forces beat him until he confessed to crimes that he did not commit. "He was
scared and wanted to make the beatings stop,” his brother said. Qahraman also
told them he did not have legal representation during his interrogations. The
family also said that they did not know Qahraman had been charged and tried
until after the sentencing when they were allowed to visit him.
Court documents reviewed by Amnesty International revealed
that the Duhok Criminal Court convicted him of "joining and spying for the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and sharing material with them.” He was not
permitted to select a lawyer of his own choice for the trial nor given adequate
time to prepare a defence. Qahraman told his brother he was unaware of the trial
until he was transported suddenly in a security vehicle to the Duhok Criminal
Court.
On 12 October 2023, the Court of Cassation upheld his
conviction and sentence even after Shukri told the judges that his
"confessions” were extracted under duress.
"From the moment of his arrest Qahraman Shukri’s basic
rights including his right to a fair trial have been flagrantly violated – he
was beaten, forced to confess, denied access to a lawyer,” said Bissan Fakih.
Shukri’s brother, also a journalist, told Amnesty
International he has received multiple threats telling him to”keep his mouth
shut” for advocating on behalf of his brother’s release. "I left [Kurdistan] to
protect my family because they lived in constant fear that I was also going to
be arrested,” the brother said.
Sherwan Sherwani, another journalist whose work focused on
human rights, freedom of expression and corruption issues, was arrested on 7
October 2021 and charged four months later along with four other journalists
and activists with bogus charges of espionage and sharing information with the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The trial was marred by serious violations of
the right to a fair trial, including allegations of torture and other
ill-treatment that were not investigated, the reliance on torture-tainted
confessions, and a refusal to allow defence lawyers timely access to the case
files.
Sherwan Sherwani was scheduled to be released on 9 September
2023, but an Erbil Criminal Court on 20 July 2023 brought additional baseless
charges against him that were designed to keep him behind bars. He was
sentenced to a further four years in prison. Amnesty International has learned
that further spurious charges have been brought against Sherwan Sherwani for
which he is currently awaiting trial.
Chilling climate for journalists
While a number of journalists
have been prosecuted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, in the majority of
cases, the authorities have subjected journalists to harassment and
intimidation, silencing critical voices. Amnesty International is aware of at least
eight journalists who have fled the KR-I in the past four years fearing for
their safety. Many of them worked in outlets that were perceived to be critical
of the authorities and covered issues of alleged corruption in the KRG.
One journalist who had collaborated with Sherwan Sherwani on
corruption and social issues told Amnesty International that the Asayish and
the intelligence agency of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Parastin,
arrested him 11 times before he fled in 2020. The Kurdistan Democratic Party is
the ruling party of the KRG. The journalist said he was never presented with an
arrest warrant.
"No one should face harassment
and intimidation simply for carrying out their journalistic work. The KRG
should immediately and unconditionally release all those detained solely for
their journalistic work. Authorities should uphold human rights and press
freedom and take credible steps to create a conducive environment where
journalists can carry out their work safely and people are allowed to express
critical opinions freely,” said Bissan Fakih.
Amnesty.org / press-freedom
PM:09:50:05/05/2024