SULAIMANI — The Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy has called for the release of NRT 

Managing Director Awat Ali, who was detained on Sunday (June 4) after he went to Kalar to give testimony on a story which NRT covered.

The Metro Center released a statement on Sunday saying the Kalar Investigative Court’s decision protects the rights of the plaintiff but does not protect the rights of the accused.

The Director of the Metro Center held talks regarding the case with the plaintiff, Judge Akram Faraj, for more than an hour and a half, the statement said. Faraj "promised Metro that he would not intervene in the case and would not affect the process of the trial except for his legal rights.”

The Metro Center called on the court to deal with the case in accordance with Number 35 of the Journalism Law of 2007, saying "Awat Ali must be released on bail through his lawyer.”

An investigative court in Kalar released NRT reporter Aram Bakhtyar on bail and has detained the channel’s Managing Director.

Ali could have been released on bail after giving testimony, but was remanded until June 7 by the judge in order to go on trial, his attorney Dana Ahmed said.

The court order came after an NRT report last month documented how a man was given an 11 year jail sentence for the crime of stealing milk and diapers for his baby. He blamed his lack of income on the government’s austerity measures.

The court brought the NRT reporter into detention on May 22 with an extended term of an additional seven days. The court sought the arrest of Ali, who expressed a willingness last week to show up in court on Sunday.

(NRT)