SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Amnesty International released its annual report on Tuesday on the human rights situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Amnesty said that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “security forces continued to repress the right to freedom of expression and assembly” and continued to arbitrarily arrest “prosecuted and imprisoned journalists, activists, and perceived critics.”
The report also spoke on the case of Badian prisoners who were a group of Kurdish journalists and activists who had been jailed in Duhok in 2020 on alleged national security charges.
“Two journalists and three political activists, detained since August 2020 and convicted in February 2021 on national security-related charges, went on three hunger strikes during 2022 in protest at their continued detention.”
“On 6 August, KRG security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse peaceful protests in the cities of Erbil and Sulaimaniya in the KR-I against delayed payment of government wages and lack of employment opportunities, resulting in several injuries,” it added.
“In September, Asayish forces arrested a journalist working for a media outlet aligned with the opposition during his coverage of a Turkish drone attack targeting PKK fighters in Erbil governorate. He was released the next day without charge after signing a pledge to no longer cover similar incidents,” it continued.
“In October, Asayish forces arrested two journalists near Erbil under the vaguely worded 2008 Law to Combat the Misuse of Electronic Devices, used in the past to prosecute individuals for posting content deemed critical of officials. They were released by the end of the month.”
