The Dicle Fırat Journalists' Association (DFG) and the Mesopotamian Journalists' Association (MGK) have called for the release of RojNews editor Silêman Ehmed in a press conference in Amed. Ehmed, who works for the Arabic-language editorial team of the RojNews news agency in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, was arrested by KDP security forces on 25 October and abducted to an unknown location.

For 51 days, the authorities have not released any information about his condition or whereabouts, and his lawyers have not had any contact with him. The KDP secret service accuses the journalist, who comes from Rojava, of having connections to the PKK.

At the press conference in front of the DFG building in Amed, MGK spokeswoman Roza Metîna referred to the suppression of media workers by the KDP and reported on murdered journalists in South Kurdistan: “Soranê Mame Heme was murdered in 2008 and his killers have still not been exposed. Journalist Serdeşt Osman was kidnapped in Hewlêr [Erbil] on 4 May 2010 and his body was found two days later near Mosul. On 13 July 2016, Rojnews reporter Wedat Hisên was murdered by KDP forces. Although seven years have passed, his killers have still not been punished. Instead, the KDP prevented his colleagues from commemorating him at his grave this year. On 3 March 2017, KDP forces attacked the town of Xanesor in Shengal. In this attack, five YBŞ members were killed and journalist Nûjiyan Erhan was wounded by a targeted shot in the head. She died three weeks later. Most recently, on 4 October 2022, the journalist and author Nagihan Akarsel was murdered in Sulaymaniyah in what appeared to have been a cooperation action between the KDP and the Turkish state."

Roza Metîna also cited data from a report by the Kurdistan Journalists Union and continued: “According to the METRO Center for the Protection of the Rights of Journalists, 431 rights violations were committed against 301 journalists in the Kurdistan Federated Region in 2022. Journalists were prevented from reporting 195 times and their material was confiscated in 68 cases.”

Roza Metîna underlined that these examples provide sufficient evidence about the KDP's attitude and understanding in the area of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. “As journalists, - she said - we want information about Silêman Ehmed. We are asking once again about the whereabouts of our colleague and calling for his immediate release. We also call on the entire democratic public, especially media professionals and professional press associations, to raise their voices and show solidarity.”