Iraq

RSF is deeply saddened to learn that an explosive device killed French journalist Stephan Villeneuve and Iraqi Kurdish journalist Bakhtiar Haddad while they were covering Iraqi counter-terrorist operations in Mosul.

The law on “freedom of expression, opinion, assembly and peaceful demonstration” would require Iraqis to seek prior authorization from local authorities before protesting or assembling.

“We have not seen any evidence that military forces in Sinjar had a legitimate reason to fire on protesters, who presented no apparent risk to their lives or others,” said Human Rights Watch.

Iraqi Kurdish reporter Shifa Zikri Ibrahim, known professionally as Shifa Gardi, was killed by a roadside bomb while covering the Iraqi Army’s offensive against the Islamic State group in western Mosul for the Kurdish TV station Rudaw.

For a third year in a row, Iraqi authorities shut down the internet to prevent students from cheating on exams.

Following the deaths of two Iraqi journalists and injuries to 10 others during military offensive, authorities were urged to do everything possible to protect journalists in the field.

Media technician Ali Ghani was killed in an attack by mortar fire while reporting in Jaziret al-Khalideya, in Iraq’s Anbar province on Saturday, August 20. Correspondent Hussein al-Fares was wounded in the same attack, according to Al-Ahad TV, which employed both men.

One day after the brutal murder of a Kurdish report in Dahuk, a TV cameraman died while covering fighting between Kurdish forces and ISIS near Mosul.

An Iraqi cameraman was killed on 13 July in the south of Mosul, Iraq. He is the 4th media worker to be killed in Iraq since the beginning of the year.

In a statement from the Rudaw Media Network, following the attack, the network made it very clear that this would not hinder them from delivering the news, declaring that ‘Rudaw was not afraid of any threats in the past and we will not be afraid now or in the future’.

Photographer Fadil al-Garaawi, 45, was employed by Iraq’s elite Interior Ministry forces and also contributed to Iraqi news outlets. He was killed when a mortar round struck near a group of journalists and members of the security forces in Fallujah, according to media reports. Three members of the security forces were also killed.

A leaked email that originated from an Iraqi Internet service provider (ISP) and was shared with SMEX confirms that on May 16, 2016, the Internet will be shutdown for three hours, from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m., “in all regions of Iraq.”

“Using the Iraqi “war on terror” media guidelines to shut down Al Jazeera is a blatant attempt to put pressure on the network to report only one side of a story in a country that struggles to provide any protection to journalists on the ground.”

Journalist Saif Tallal and cameraman Hassan al-Anbaki working for Sharqiya TV channel were shot dead on 12 January by some masked militiamen near Baquba, the capital of Diyala province in Iraq, on their way back from a professional mission covering violence in the Muqdadiyah area.

Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul fell to IS on 10 June 2014. Since then, independent media activity has been non-existent. All media outlets have been taken over and are now used to put out the jihadi group’s message. All journalists still in the city have had to stop working to avoid being the target of reprisals.

Iraqi security forces have repeatedly beaten and violently dispersed protesters during anti-corruption demonstrations since August 2015 without any apparent justification.