Press freedom watchdog condemns brutal attack on Kurdish journalist over corruption coverage
The organization reported that Abdul-Khaliq was targeted after publishing an investigative report exposing corruption in the Sulaimani region.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has strongly condemned the violent assault on a journalist in Sulaimani who was attacked with knives and pistol grips after publishing an exposé on corruption in the province.
According to a statement published on CPJ's website, journalist Wrya Abdul-Khaliq, a correspondent for Bwar Media, was violently assaulted in his garden in Sulaimani on April 4. The attackers used knives and pistol grips to inflict injuries that required 21 stitches.
The organization reported that Abdul-Khaliq was targeted after he published an investigative report exposing corruption in the Sulaimani region.
CPJ characterized the attack as a direct assault on freedom of expression and press freedom.
"We are deeply concerned about the savage attack on journalist Wrya Abdul-Khaliq, who sustained severe injuries to his head and other parts of his body," said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa Senior Researcher, speaking from Washington, D.C.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), headquartered in New York, is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide and defends journalists' rights to report news safely and without fear of reprisal.
The attack on Abdul-Khaliq represents a concerning trend of violence against journalists in the Kurdistan Region who report on sensitive issues such as corruption and abuse of power.
Sulaimani, one of the major cities in Iraqi Kurdistan, has historically been a hub for independent media in the region.