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Rudaw Net
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Media watchdog urges Kurdish authorities to release journalist
Also in Kurdistan Sulaimani teachers on hunger strike over unpaid salaries Drone targets Erbil refugee camp housing exiled Iranian Kurds Youth in Ranya learn barbering before migrating to Europe Peshmerga unification process may be completed before 2026: Ministry A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An international press freedom watchdog on Friday urged Kurdistan Region authorities to release a journalist who was sentenced to six months imprisonment for defamation. 'We are deeply troubled by the sentencing of journalist Omed Baroshky over a Facebook post,' said Yeganeh Rezaian, interim Middle East program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). 'Iraqi Kurdish authorities must ensure that journalists are not criminalized for their reporting. We urge authorities to free Baroshky and allow him to continue his work without fear of retaliation,' he added. This is not the first time Baroshky has served time in jail in connection with his work. He was among dozens of journalists and activists arrested in Duhok in the summer of 2020 after anti-government protests over unpaid wages. Their cases drew international condemnation. Baroshky was convicted of 'misusing a communication device' and spent a year and a half in jail. He has now been sentenced again under Article Two of the same law that states that anyone who misuses online or offline platforms to 'slander, threaten, insult or spread fabricated news that provokes terror and conversations contrary to public morals' may be jailed for up to five years and fined over $3,000, according to the CPJ. Baroshky's lawyer, Revving Hruri told the CPJ that the charges are related to a January 23, 2024 Facebook post in which Baroshky reported that Mala Nazir had been kidnapped from prison a day before his release, according to the CPJ. Hruri told CPJ he presented 'multiple pieces of evidence proving that [Baroshky] is a journalist and should be tried under the press law, which does not allow imprisonment, but the court refused.' Baroshky was the founder of Rast Media, which was shut down by security forces. Kurdish authorities repeatedly face harsh criticism for their treatment of journalists as well as imposing restrictive measures on the press. Erbil has previously defended its prosecution of journalists, stating that the courts are independent, and requested assistance from the United Nations and foreign missions to strengthen the legal system and train judges.
Rudaw Net
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Sulaimani teachers on hunger strike over unpaid salaries
Also in Kurdistan Drone targets Erbil refugee camp housing exiled Iranian Kurds Youth in Ranya learn barbering before migrating to Europe Peshmerga unification process may be completed before 2026: Ministry Iraq says Erbil IDP camp now empty A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of teachers in Sulaimani have been on a hunger strike since Tuesday over unpaid salaries. One of the teachers said that she will not stop her protest until either her demands are met or she dies. 'Either a life of dignity or honorable martyrdom. It's enough, we are tired. We have been shouting on these streets for a decade. [We want] our rights, for us to be respected, to be seen as humans, for us not to be sold, for us not to be bitten and torn apart. We want our rights as human beings,' Pakiza Hamaamin told Rudaw on Thursday. 'I am not leaving. Either my requests will be fulfilled or I will die an honorable death and be buried by the hands of my people,' she said. The teachers have set up a tent in front of a United Nations office in Sulaimani where some of them have been on a hunger strike since Tuesday, their main demand being payment of their salaries for December and January. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has failed to pay the salaries of its civil servants on time and in full for a decade due to a financial crisis that worsened when its oil exports were halted in March 2023 following a court ruling on a dispute between Iraq and Turkey over the Kurdistan Region's independent oil sales. The KRG now relies on domestic revenue and its controversial share of the federal budget. To cover its payroll, the KRG is dependent on money from Baghdad, but the transfers of funds have not been regular, with each side blaming the other for delays and missed payments. Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakir visited the hunger striking teachers on Wednesday. Speaking to journalists in the tent, he had a message for the federal and regional governments. 'Solve the issues quickly instead of telling us stories in the media and social media. Instead of spending a long time in other countries in the world or Davos, go to Baghdad and do not return until you solve the problem,' he said. On Friday, a delegation from the Kurdistan Region met with the Iraqi finance ministry to try and solve the problem, discussing amendments to Iraq's previously approved 2025 budget law. Teachers and civil servants in Sulaimani province have gone on numerous strikes and staged protests several times over unpaid salaries.
