In cooperation with the Federation of Independent Journalists (FIP-UN), the Journalists’ Rights Organization (JRO) announced a report on the first half of 2022 outside the Kurdistan Regional Government office on Saturday.

The president of the organization, Hozan Qadir, reported 71 cases of violations against journalists in Kurdistan cities in the first six months of the year.

According to the report, “71 violations against journalists were recorded from January 1 to July 3 and two journalists were imprisoned. In 8 incidents, 29 journalists were prevented from reporting. 9 cases of attack and insult directed at 14 journalists were reported in the mentioned period of time. In addition, a lawsuit was filed for the closure of the offices of a TV channel and 10 other lawsuits were brought against 21 journalists.”

The highest number of violations against journalists, 28, was registered in Duhok, followed by Hewler (Erbil) with 27 cases, Sulaymaniyah with 11 cases and Halabja with 5 cases.

‘JOURNALISM IN DANGER’

The officials also sent a petition to the Kurdistan Region Parliament, stating the following: “The ever-increasing violations against journalists put journalism in great danger. The Parliament of Kurdistan Region takes place on the top with regard to discrimination between media outlets and violations against journalists. The Parliament violates the 2007 Journalism Act No 35. Some security institutions rank as the second in violations against journalists. The Kurdistan Region Parliament Media and Information Office continues to discriminate between media outlets.”