MESOP NOTEBOOK : Kurdistan’s Interior Minister, Karim Sinjari, attacks Kurdish NRT TV’s team

March 13, 2014 – knnc.net – ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Karm Snjari, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Interior Minister, has attacked NRTTV’s reporter who was covering the events of a conference in Hewlêr [Erbil], the capital of the Kurdistan region.

Hêrish Qadir, a reporter at independent Kurdish NRT TV, told sbeiy.com that Hakim Tariq Gardi, the General Director of the Office of Interior Ministry, has broken his camera. “When the conference was over, I put the mike in front of Karim Sinjari and asked him a question. But without answering my question, the Interior Minister attacked my camera” Herish explains.  Hêrish adds that later on Hakm Tariq Gardi, the General Director of the Interior Ministry, took the camera and broke it. Zar Group for the Defence of Freedom in Hewlêr published a statement stating that attacking, threatening and breaking NRTTV cameras by the Interior Minister and his Director of Office is yet another sign that freedom in this region only exists in name or on paper. 

“That act is the most extreme act of disrespect against journalists and citizens of the region. If their reaction to a question results in attacking and breaking, we wonder how their reactions are like against those they rule” the statement reads.  “If Kurdistan Region president, Massoud Barzani, and Kurdistan Region Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani say that there if freedom and justice, they must inquire the case in an independent court to prove that there is rule of law and punishment,” the statement concludes.  Hêrish says that he has filed a complaint against both the Karim Sinjari and Hakim Tariq Gardi.