UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

authorities also briefly banned the media from parliament and the international press centre
in the Green Zone of Baghdad in November 2006. 604
Other journalists suffered harassment by the ISF/MNF for alleged links with the
insurgency, 605 including unlawful searches, confiscation of computers and other personal
belongings, arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention without being charged. 606 There have
also been reports of journalists being beaten and mistreated by Iraqi Police. 607
b) Situation in the Region of Kurdistan
In the Region of Kurdistan, journalists and media organizations have repeatedly claimed
that press freedom is restricted and that criticism of the ruling parties can lead to physical
harassment, seizure of cameras and notebooks, arrest and legal prosecution on charges of
defamation. In late December 2006, journalist Luqman Ghafur was arrested in
Sulaymaniyah after police officers filed a complaint against him for calling them “gangs”
in an article. 608 In Erbil, police arrested journalists Shaho Khalid and Dilaman Salah for
reporting a strike at a students’ house in Setaqan Quarter. They reported that the police had
assaulted them. 609
604 RSF, Media allowed to cover parliamentary sessions again, but placed under surveillance, APTN
cameraman shot dead in Mosul, 12 December 2006, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20133.
605 See also “Actual or Perceived Supporters of the Former Regime and/or the Insurgency”.
606 See, for example, Reuters, Third Reuters Iraq Journalist Freed by US troops, see above footnote 597;
UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 11, see above footnote 66; IFJ, IFJ Calls for Release
of Journalist Held in Iraq for More Than Six Months, 6 November 2006, http://www.ifj.org/default.asp
?index=4353&Language=EN; Von Zielbauer, Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to List of Dangers, see above
footnote 596.
607 UNAMI HRO, August 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 8, see above footnote 26.
608 UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 11, see above footnote 10.
609 Ibid. In addition, Hawez Hawezi, a journalist working for “Hawlati”, an independent media outlet, was
arrested on 17 March 2006 on charges that his writings had criticized the KDP and the PUK after he described
corruption and cronyism within both administrations and calling on officials to step down. He was released on
bail two days later, but according to Reuters was rearrested in late April after publicly complaining of his
treatment while in detention; Kathleen Ridolfo, Iraq: New Kurdish Administration Comes Under Scrutiny,
RFE/RL, 12 May 2006, http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/5/4B58E7A7-5456-4D67-A1F1-B5DF2E2
AD5B4.html. On 13 April 2006, Mastura Mahmood, a journalist for the women’s weekly paper Rewan, was
charged with defamation for an article that quoted an anti-government demonstrator in Halabja who compared
the behaviour of the security forces with the former Ba’athists; CPJ, IRAQ: Journalist facing trial on
defamation charges, 5 May 2006, http://www.cpj.org/cases06/mideast_cases_06/iraq05may06ca.html; Asos
Hardi, the former editor-in-chief of Hawlati and the weekly’s current editor in chief, Twana Osman, were
sentenced in May 2006 to six-month suspended jail terms after the newspaper reported that then-PUK Prime
Minister Omar Fatah had ordered the dismissal of two telephone company employees after they cut his phone
service for failing to pay his bill. See: Von Zielbauer, Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to List of Dangers, see
above footnote 596; Ridolfo, ibid. In one of the most prominent cases, Kamal Sayid Qadir, was sentenced to
30 years after writing critical articles against Kurdistan Regional President, Masoud Barzani. Under pressure
from international and local journalism organizations, his sentence was later reduced to 18 months and then
further commuted; Ridolfo, ibid; Nora Bustany, In Releasing Writer, Kurds Ponder Press Freedom, The
Washington Post, 7 April 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006
040602067.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns.
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