Iraqi Kurdistan: RSF calls for the release of investigative journalists Bashdar Bazyani and Sherwan Sherwani
Bashdar Bazyani and Sherwan Sherwan, two reporters in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, have been thrown behind bars for their investigative journalism. One has been in prison for five years and was set to be released on 9 March. The other has been held since late February without any official charges. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is urging the government of Iraqi Kurdistan to immediately release the reporters, imprisoned on baseless grounds.
Sherwan Sherwani is the founder of the monthly Bashur Magazine and a well-known independent journalist in the Bahdinan region, a stronghold of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the powerful Barzani family. He was investigating alleged corruption among Iraqi Kurdish leaders when he was arrested by security forces. He was then sentenced in 2020 on charges of “espionage” to six years in prison, later reduced to three. After completing his jail time in 2023, he was sentenced again to four years in prison a ruling RSF condemned as cruel and vindictive. The sentence was eventually shortened to two years and the journalist was set to be released from his second bout of imprisonment on 9 March but, according to his lawyer, administrative obstacles are delaying the judge’s ability to discharge him.
As for journalist Bashdar Bazyani, just ten days after he launched the online investigative media outlet Media 21 on 18 February, government security forces arrested him at his home in Sulaymaniyah, a city in northern Iraqi Kurdistan. His colleagues Dana Salih, Sardasht Hama Salih, and Nabaz Sheikhani were arrested the following day but released on bail 48 hours later. The Media 21 office was also shut down under the pretext of operating “without a license.” According to a spokesperson for the Sulaymaniyah Journalists’ Syndicate, Bazyani is being held under Article 433 of the Iraqi Penal Code, accused of “publishing false information” and “defamation.” However, no official charges have been announced.
“Bashdar Bazyani and Sherwan Sherwani, arrested five years apart, are living testaments to the systematic repression of investigative journalism in Iraqi Kurdistan. Their detention restricts the public’s right to be informed about critical issues, and they must be released immediately. We also call on the Kurdish government to drop the charges against the Media 21 journalists and allow the outlet to operate freely.”
A climate of intimidation
Sherwan Sherwani has long faced government pressure due to his investigations into corruption cases and the murders of Kurdish journalists and writers since 1991. He was first arrested in 2012 and detained for six days after publishing a 2011 article in Bashur Magazine exposing a corruption scandal involving a municipal official in Duhok. A few months after his release, he was sued for defamation by a relative of the Barzani clan. In 2019, he was arrested again while covering a protest at the Turkish border.
Bashdar Bazyani is also known for his investigative work on corruption cases. In his last Facebook post on 23 February, he revealed information about industrial pollution from a cement factory and reportedly received threats of legal action from one of the factory’s owners, according to RSF sources. His arrest may also be linked to an unpublished interview with a family member of a Kurdish government official, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On 5 February, Bazyani was detained for 12 hours at the Sardinar police station for reasons he says remain unknown. Upon his release, he reported being mistreated, his hands and feet cuffed throughout his detention.
Two other journalists — freelance photojournalist Qahraman Shukri and independent journalist Omed Baroshki — also remain imprisoned for their work in Iraqi Kurdistan.
