SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Metro Center for Journalists’ Rights and Advocacy said on Sunday it recorded 353 cases of violations against journalists and media outlets in the Kurdistan Region last year.
Metro representative Avan Jaf said the violations were carried out against 260 journalists and media outlets in the Kurdistan Region in 2021.
There were 189 cases of prevention and discrimination as well as 81 cases of attacks, beating and insults and 13 threats during the year, Jaf said in a press conference.
Metro also recorded 25 cases of detention without orders and four other cases of sentencing journalists, she added.
There were also 25 cases of confiscating journalists’ equipment and seven cases of breaking their equipment, she noted.
The journalists’ advocacy also registered two other cases of raiding channels in the Region, Jaf further said.
Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, ranks 163 out of 180 on Reporters’ Without Borders’ 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
Last week, the Kurdistan Journalists’ Syndicate said it recorded 79 cases of violations against journalists and media outlets in the Region in 2021.
On December 28, the Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association said it recorded at least 250 attacks against journalists in 2021.
Ali Omer, a Metro representative, said during conference on Sunday that there were 2,632 cases of violations against journalists in the past 10 years.
Three journalists, Kawa Garmyani, Wdad Hussein and Arkan Sharif, were also assassinated during the period, Omer added.
Six other journalists were killed in the fighting against Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, Omer noted.
In January, the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate said as many as 475 journalists had been killed in Iraq since 2003.
