Kurdish journalists under assault in Iraq

By Missy Ryan and Shamal Arqawi

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's northern Kurdish enclave may be a haven of relative peace and serenity but independent journalists there say challenges to the political establishment are being met with intimidation and threats.

In the largely autonomous territory, streets are swept clean and people walk without fear -- a stark contrast to the concrete walls and barbed wire that have defined life for most Iraqis in more than five years of war.

Still, about 60 Kurdish journalists were killed, threatened, attacked, or taken to court in the first half of 2008, says the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Last month, Soran Mamahama, a 23-year-old writer for Livin magazine, published in the Kurdish town of Sulaimaniya, was gunned down outside his home in Kirkuk, a week after his report linking security officials to prostitution rings.

In the past few years, many other Kurdish journalists have been beaten, jailed, threatened with death or simply hassled by the authorities while doing their job.

"In Kurdistan there is no freedom for journalists. I have proof of that -- the most recent proof was Soran," says Hemen Mamand, a young radio reporter in Arbil who wears a small likeness of Che Guevara around his neck.

"We don't know who killed him, but we do know that the government didn't care," said Mamand, who himself was threatened when he wrote a story about an alleged case of corruption linked to Kurdish President Masoud Barzani's powerful KDP party.

While the rest of Iraq was mired in chaotic, bloody civil strife following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Kurdish north aggressively promoted its image as "the other Iraq" -- a place of stability, prosperity and above all, security.

The last decade has seen a scrappy independent press emerge to challenge the region's two dominant political parties. But that has coincided with a "marked deterioration in press freedom" and spates of attacks, said Joel Campagna, who headed a CPJ mission to Kurdistan last year.

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CPJ and Amnesty International have launched campaigns to draw attention to such events and pressure Kurdish authorities to hold those who are threatening journalists to account.

"The recent incidents have really stripped off the veneer and revealed it's not much different than other parts of Iraq," Campagna said.

Although violence has dropped sharply, Iraq remains the world's most dangerous place for the press, with more than 130 journalists killed working there since 2003.

Many reporters in Kurdistan see themselves as most at risk when they report critically about Kurdish security forces, government officials or political parties.

They say Barzani's KDP party, based in Arbil, and the PUK, its historic rival, controlled by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and based in Sulaimaniya, wield near-total control of their respective Kurdish domains.