Media watchdog reports +430 press freedom violations in Iraq's Kurdistan in 2022

Shafaq News/ More than 430 press freedom violations were reported in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2022, Metro Center for journalists advocacy said in its annual report on Monday.

"Even after 32 years of joint rule between the two leading parties in the Kurdistan region, journalists continue to endure assaults and violations while doing their duty," the center's coordinator, Rahman Gharib, said in a press conference in al-Sulaymaniyah.

Gharib said that the report documents 431 press freedom violations against 301 media persons or institutions that took place over the past year.

That includes, according to the report, 26 cases of physical assault, four cases of verbal abuse, 46 cases of physical threats, two rocket attacks, three home invasions, six cyber-attacks, 16 cases of coerced singing of undertakings, and 64 unwarranted arrests.

The watchdog also documented 195 reports on blocked coverage, 68 reports on seizing or damaging press equipment, and a single report on shutting down a TV channel.

Gharib said that the majority of these violations were committed by the security forces.

"It is 2022, and the behavior of the security forces toward journalists on duty is yet to change," he concluded.