Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 16, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi authorities to investigate and hold to account the officers who arrested and severely assaulted four journalists in Iraq’s Kurdish region over the past week.
“The arrest, abuse, and intimidation of journalists in Iraq’s Kurdish region are deeply concerning and reflect a broader pattern of hostility toward press freedom,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director. “Authorities must investigate these incidents transparently and ensure that journalists can report safely and without fear of retaliation or violence.”
In the early hours of July 9, Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish, arrested three journalists in Rovia, a subdistrict of the northern city of Duhok’s Bardarash area. The journalists — Taif Goran, a reporter for opposition-linked NRT TV; his camera operator, Rayan Sidqi; and Rizgar Kamil, a reporter for Westga News — had traveled to Erbil’s Khabat district to cover clashes between security forces and tribal fighters. After all journalists were blocked from entering the area, they returned to Rovia to broadcast live and were detained. They were released the afternoon of July 10, after more than 25 hours in custody.
Taif Goran told CPJ that at around midnight, during a live broadcast, five Asayish vehicles arrived and officers beat and blindfolded the journalists. “We were tortured and beaten as much as they could and pressured to quit journalism,” he said. “Later, we were moved to Bardarash and held in solitary cells that had been used as toilets, in 35-degree (95 F) heat with no ventilation or water for hours.”
Goran said they were forced to unlock their phones, which were returned on July 15 with all their data erased.
Kamil told CPJ that officers beat the men during the arrest and again at the Asayish office in the city of Rovia. “They called us traitors and chaotic,” he said. “My phone was reformatted, and my back still hurts from the beating.”
On July 14, three security personnel assaulted Hersh Qadir, head of NRT’s Erbil office, while he was covering a protest in Erbil’s Ainkawa district. He told CPJ that a man in plainclothes identifying himself as an Asayish officer ordered him not to broadcast.
CPJ contacted the Bardarash Asayish by phone, where officials confirmed the arrests but denied any assault or torture, offering no further explanation.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.