Union demands releasing journalists arrested by Duhok authorities

Shafaq News / The Committee to Defend Press Freedoms and the Rights of Journalists in Kurdistan Journalist's Syndicate demanded releasing journalists arrested by the authorities in Dohuk city.

"The police forces in Dohuk arrested 6 journalists and confiscated their press equipments without any legal justification while covering a demonstration of a number of employees and teachers in Dohuk province," the committee said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency.

"This is in violation of the Journalistic Work Law No. 35 of 2007 that prohibits the arrest or imprisonment of a journalist while performing a journalistic mission."

"After serious attempts by Dohuk branch of the Syndicate to release the arrested journalists but Nazarke Police Center officials refused the Syndicate's lawyer to participate in the procedures of investigating three journalists, and they prevented the union's representatives from entering the center, which is considered illegal," the committee added.

The committee called on the concerned authorities in Dohuk to "release the six arrested journalists and bring back their press requirements as soon as possible," renewing "its condemnation for the arrest of the journalists and the irresponsible behavior of the union representatives in Dohuk."