The local government in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq continues to commit serious violations of the civil and human rights of citizens, including civil society activists, journalists, and protesters. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) documents these violations, which occurred over the past year, in this periodic report and calls on local authorities to work diligently to respect public freedoms, including freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of the press.

Protests by teachers in Sulaymaniyah

On 28 January 2025, dozens of educational staff demonstrated in Sulaymaniyah to protest the delay in the payment of their salaries (main photo).

On the same day, a sit-in and hunger strike began in front of the UN office in Sulaymaniyah Governorate. Two teachers participated on the first day, and after several days, the number grew to 13. Their demands included the payment of overdue salaries, the deposit of salaries in federal banks, and the reinstatement of promotions and bonuses. The protesters affirmed their continued sit-in and their refusal to dismantle their tents until all their goals were achieved.

It is worth noting that a number of hunger strikers in the sit-in tents were transferred to the hospital due to their deteriorating health. After interventions by colleagues and civil society activists to save their lives, the hunger strike ended on 11 February 2025.

On 09 February 2025, Asayish forces (Internal Security) in Erbil Governorate prevented dozens of protesting teachers from Sulaymaniyah Governorate from entering Erbil to demonstrate in the regional capital. Protesters faced a series of tight security measures, with Kurdish Asayish forces, affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, closing the Degala checkpoint at the entrance to Erbil, preventing them from entering the city. Excessive violence and tear gas were used to disperse them, forcing most of them to return to Sulaymaniyah.  

On 23 February 2025, dozens of teachers in Sulaymaniyah organised a peaceful demonstration in the Arbat sub-district, on the road between Sulaymaniyah and the Iranian border, to pressure the authorities to accept the exclusive settlement of salaries through federal banks.

Protesters were attacked by security forces, who were behind the targeting of their tents, according to reliable local sources. Journalist Jawa Rawan Mahmoud, a reporter for Shar Press TV, was detained and removed from the protest area twice to prevent her from covering the protests. Several protesters were also detained for brief hours to prevent them from protesting.

On 25 February 2024, the Metro Center for Defending Journalists’ Rights issued a statement condemning the attacks on protesting teachers in Sulaymaniyah. The statement said, "The attacks on the protesting teachers in Sulaymaniyah are a replay of the systematic repression of protests.” The statement emphasised that, "The attacks on the protesting teachers, as well as the repeated attacks on journalists, including intimidation and the destruction of their equipment, are the true face of the government’s policy toward peaceful civil movements.”

On 30 January 2025, the Duhok Misdemeanor Court sentenced Omed Haji Fatah Baroshki, a journalist and civil society activist from the Bahdinan area who is the owner of Rast Media, to six months in prison. He was convicted under Article 2 of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Law on the Prevention of Misuse of Telecommunications Equipment, which relates to the misuse of a mobile phone. His lawyer filed an appeal against the ruling.

Local sources confirmed that this case, filed against him by the administration of Zarka General Prison in Duhok, is related to a social media post he made calling for the release of other prisoners of conscience.

Baroshki had previously been arrested several times. On 22 February 2024, security forces raided his home and arrested him. He was not released until three days later, without any information being revealed about the reason for his arrest. He was also arrested on 19 August 2020, during teachers’ and employees’ protests against the authorities’ unpaid salaries. He was not released until 22 February 2022, after spending a year and seven months in prison. He faced several prison sentences totaling two years and six months, in addition to a fine of 240,000 Iraqi dinars for another case.

On 13 August 2024, security forces arrested Baroshki as part of a security campaign to disperse participants in the annual commemoration of the death of journalist Wedat Hussein Ali who were attempting to gather at his shrine in Dohuk. He was released hours later, and the participants were forcibly dispersed.

Citizens, including fellow journalists and activists, expressed their solidarity with him.

Journalist Wedat Hussein Ali, who was 28 at the time of his murder, began his career in Duhok Governorate as a civil society activist. He then started working as a reporter for the Roj News Agency in June 2016. Two months into his work, he was kidnapped from the Malta neighborhood in Duhok by unknown individuals on 13 August 2016. He was severely tortured and found half an hour later, hovering between life and death, on the road between Duhok and Semel District. Despite being taken to the hospital, he later died from his severe injuries.

Prior to his abduction, he had been summoned by security forces five times, and his writings were characterised by their harsh criticism of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Hussein was a courageous journalist. Despite the constant threats he received from some members of the security services, he continued his journalistic work, publishing several articles in which he spoke about the widespread corruption and the failure of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s forces to protect the Yazidis when Dae’sh, the terrorist organisation, attacked their region in 2014.

What he published was the primary reason for his assassination, a crime for which, like many assassinations of journalists and other activists, the perpetrators have yet to be apprehended and brought to justice.

Serious Violations Documented During the Year

GCHR documented the human rights situation in the Kurdistan Region during 2024. Below is a summary of the most prominent violations committed against journalists and civil society activists.

On 01 February 2024, the Asayish arrested journalist and civil society activist Tikushar Hussein in the Choman district of Erbil Governorate and transferred him to the Asayish prison in Soran District in the same governorate. He was not released until three days later.

Late on the night of 04 February 2024, a number of armed men attacked journalist Ahmed Mustafa after he stopped his car at a traffic light on Street 60 in Erbil, near the François Hariri Stadium. He was threatened with death and the cutting off of his tongue if he did not cease his criticism of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

On 05 February 2024, while covering demonstrations organised in Erbil in support of employees and teachers who had declared a sit-in three months earlier due to unpaid salaries and the regional government’s failure to pay their financial dues, security forces arrested journalist Diako Hussein, a correspondent for the Kurdish Standard Media Foundation. They confiscated his belongings and equipment, including his phone and camera, and took him to an unknown location. He was released the same evening after being detained for several hours.

Assassination of a Turkish Political Activist

On 29 February 2024, political activist and member of the Turkish People’s Equality and Democracy Party, Abdulkadir Sabri Toprak, was assassinated in Sulaymaniyah by an unknown group. On 01 March 2024, the party issued a statement accusing the Turkish government of carrying out the assassination. It stated that he was a citizen of Turkish Kurdistan and a father of three children who had immigrated to Sulaymaniyah approximately 12 years ago.

On 19 March 2024, security forces arrested political activist and New Generation Movement leader Omar Mama Kurda after he announced that his movement would file a complaint against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for not paying employees’ salaries. He was released on bail on 02 April 2024.

On 18 May 2024, security forces arrested journalist Shaker Sattar, who works for Tiwar News, while returning with his family from Sulaymaniyah. Security forces stopped him at the Ashti checkpoint in the Koya district of Sulaymaniyah Governorate.

He was charged with defaming the people of Sulaymaniyah by publishing reports that spread fear among citizens, pursuant to Article (226) of the Iraqi Penal Code, based on a complaint filed against him by the Public Prosecutor. Three days after his arrest, he was released on bail.

On 26 June 2024, security forces arrested journalist Ahmed Shamki, a correspondent for the 7 Roj Media Foundation, in the Shiladze area of ​​Amadiya District, Duhok Governorate. His arrest is linked to his publication of a corruption case involving the sale of land on a public street in the Shiladze sub-district. He was released on bail on 30 June 2024. Following his release, he stated that he had exposed the sale of a plot of government land, prompting the mayor of the area to threaten him with legal action if he did not stop pursuing the case. He stated that his release came after increasing pressure from human rights organisations and media outlets.

On 08 July 2024, a Turkish airstrike targeted the media team of the Yazidi satellite channel Çira TV and Çira FM in Sinjar district, on the Tal Qasab-Sinjar road. The attack resulted in the injury of journalist Murad Mirza Ibrahim, a reporter for Çira FM, journalist Medya Kamal Hassan, a reporter for Çira TV, and Khalaf Khader, who was their driver. Ibrahim was seriously injured and transferred to a Mosul hospital the same day, but he died on the night of 11 July 2024.

On 10 July 2024, Asayish security forces in Dohuk arrested the media crew of the Kurdish satellite channel Zoom, consisting of journalist and correspondent Hajin Fatah Rikani, cameraman Adel Sekeri, and the crew’s driver, for covering Turkish attacks in Dohuk Governorate. The channel’s correspondent was released several hours later, but her two colleagues were not released until a day after their detention.

On the evening of 13 July 2024, Asayish security forces in the Amadiya area arrested the media crew of the Kurdish satellite channel 8, consisting of journalist Nazhyar Mohammed Salim Nirooyi, cameraman Bahiz Aqrawi, and the driver of the vehicle accompanying the media crew, Hawar Yousef, while they were covering the ongoing Turkish army attacks in the Amadiya area of ​​Dohuk Governorate. They were released several days after their arrest. Nirooyi moved to Sulaymaniyah after being threatened and beaten by security forces during his detention.

On 22 July 2024, security forces in Sulaymaniyah assaulted a Roj News Agency crew for attending a ceremony announcing the formation of a united front against the Turkish occupation of the Kurdistan Region. The assault included Kurdish journalist Derin Rahim, a Roj News correspondent, who was severely injured. Security forces briefly confiscated her phone, but her camera and other journalistic equipment were also confiscated.

On 22 July 2024, security forces in Erbil arrested political activist Serias Awni, a member of the Change Movement (Gorran) in the Kurdistan Region, and took him to an unknown location. After several hours of detention, he was released, covered in blood, after being subjected to beatings and various forms of torture.

On 29 July 2024, the Duhok Court sentenced journalist Suleiman Ahmed, editor of the Roj News Agency, to three years in prison after convicting him of charges related to the security of the Kurdistan Region. Defense lawyers asserted that the charges were baseless, pointing out that their client had worked for the agency for five years, according to official documents issued by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

On 06 January 2025, the Kurdistan Regional Government Review Court issued a decision to drop all charges against him and release him immediately after finding a lack of evidence to support the accusations. He was released on 20 January 2025, pursuant to the court’s decision.

He was arrested by security forces at the Fishkhabour border crossing with Syria on 25 October 2023, while returning to the Kurdistan Region from Syria. He had traveled to the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo earlier that month to visit his family in Syria.

On 23 August 2024, two journalists lost their lives and a colleague was injured while filming a television program when their car was targeted by a Turkish drone near the village of Tepe Rash in the Said Sadiq district of Sulaymaniyah Governorate.

The victims were Hêro Bahadîn, a producer at the Sterk TV channel‘s Sulaymaniyah office, and Gülistan Tara, a journalist from the city of Êlih (Batman) in Turkish Kurdistan, who was one of the channel’s office officials there. A third victim was also injured, who was a staff member at the office. The Sterk TV channel’s Sulaymaniyah office is affiliated with the Chatr Media Company.

On 25 August 2024, the Kalar Investigation Court in Sulaymaniyah Governorate issued a detention order against journalist Sirwan Hassan, who works for NRT TV, after he appeared before an investigative judge based on a complaint filed against him by the Gorran Movement. The complaint relates to his publication of a story about the corruption of some movement officials and their practice of changing their license plates and car numbers while traveling between the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk. He was charged with misuse of telecommunications equipment under Article 2 of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s Law on the Prevention of Misuse of Telecommunications Equipment. He was detained for 15 days following the complaint, after which he was released on bail.

On 04 November 2024, journalist Waria Abdulkhaliq, a reporter for the Bwar Media Agency, was attacked in the Qadir Karam sub-district of Chamchamal District in Sulaymaniyah Governorate. He was stabbed 21 times and hit on the head with a pistol butt by two individuals close to a Kurdistan Regional Government official. Abdulkhaliq was immediately taken to the hospital and stabilised.

The attack occurred after the agency published a report Abdulkhaliq had prepared about an official working for the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs obstructing the implementation of a local electricity project.

Recommendations

The Kurdistan Regional Government must ensure that all citizens, including journalists, media professionals, and all human rights defenders, including women’s rights defenders, are able to carry out their legitimate human rights work without fear of reprisals and free from all restrictions including judicial harassment.

GCHR calls on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all detained civil society activists, journalists and other prisoners of conscience whose civil and human rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly, are being violated. The authorities must fulfill their constitutional obligations not to violate public freedoms, including freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press, and to provide full protection for journalists and media professionals.  




source/ GCHR