ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Sulaimani-based NRT news channel reported on Sunday that security forces had blocked the broadcast of an interview with its owner and jailed opposition leader, Shaswar Abdulwahid.
An interior ministry force arrived at NRT “under the order of the authorities and the ministry of culture,” the broadcaster late Sunday, adding that “they halted the Tawtwe [discussion in Kurdish] program with Shaswar Abdulwahid.”
The undated interview, conducted over a phone call, was scheduled to be aired at 7:00 pm.
Abdulwahid, leader of Kurdistan Region’s main opposition, New Generation Movement (NGM), was arrested by Sulaimani security forces in mid-August, following a judicial decree dated August 3 that revealed he had been sentenced in absentia to six months in prison under Article 431 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which pertains to making serious threats against others, their property, or their reputation. The court later reduced the term to five months.
Rudaw English contacted the ministry of culture, but it was not immediately available for a comment.
The Sulaimani-based Metro Center for Journalists' Rights and Advocacy said in a statement on Facebook that “dozens of convicts for drug trafficking, hashish users, women killers, child killers, and several other criminals have had cameras brought into prisons and interviews conducted with them,” but said that authorities would “close the channel” upon broadcast of the interview
“Are our ministries guided by the laws of the parliament or the laws of [political] parties?” Metro said, adding, “Our full support for NRT and shame on the enemies of word [free speech].