Sulaimani, March 13th, 2025: Metro Center supports the two decisions of the President of the Sulaimani District Court of Appeal and calls on all other courts in the Kurdistan Region to resort to the measures that will be a factor in the implementation of the Journalism Law.

The President of the Sulaimani District Court of Appeal, Omar Ahmad Mohammed, issued two decisions in support of the implementation of the Journalism Law.

First, the Sulaimani Court of Investigation/1 will be responsible for hearing complaints related to journalists in Sulaimani and the Law No. 35 of 2007 on Journalism in Kurdistan will be applied to it.

Second: All the above claims will be referred to the Sulaimani District Misdemeanor Court after the completion of the investigation stages.

The decision of the Sulaimani Court of Appeal comes after a joint meeting of the relevant parties, several media outlets, trade unions and the Metro Center, which was organized by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani earlier this month.

One of the requests, the complaints related to journalists and publication, to go to a judge specializing in Law No. 35 of 2007 on Journalism in Kurdistan, was supported by the Deputy Prime Minister.

Cases related to publication have their own nature, so their own laws have been issued, but despite the law, journalists are still being investigated under the Iraqi Penal Code and other laws in the Kurdistan Regional Courts.

Metro Center welcomes the two decisions of the President of the Sulaimani District Court of Appeal and calls on all regions of the Kurdistan Region to resort to measures that will be a factor in the implementation of the law on journalism.