The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the attack on the Gav News agency by Iraqi Kurdish security forces and its downing in a written statement.

"If the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq continue their attacks on institutions and closing their offices, soon there will be nothing left in Iraqi Kurdistan except for the image of a free media," CPJ Middle East and North Africa representative Ignacio Miguel Delgado. said

CPJ called on Kurdish officials in the Kurdistan Region to allow staff to return to their offices and ensure that members of the media can work freely without fear of reprisals.

"We call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to allow Gav News employees to return to their offices immediately and ensure that the press is free to report," Delgado continued.

CPJ says that according to the reports and declarations of local freedom of communication organizations, the Metro Center for the Protection and Rights of Journalists and the Association for the Protection of Freedom of Communication in Iraq, the attack on the Gav News office was carried out as follows:

"On the morning of November 13, 4 members of the security forces belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) stormed the Gav News office in Duhok and ordered the employees to leave the office and hand over the keys without a court order. They also surrounded the office to prevent entry into the building."

At the same time, CPJ informs that there are no details about the siege of the office or the number of Gav News employees who were present during the siege of the office.

CPJ reports that according to the same sources, the security forces ordered the employees not to speak or comment on the closure of the office with other media outlets and threatened them with arrest if they did so.

In its statement, CPJ drew attention to the comments of the Association for the Protection of Freedom of Information in Iraq.

The association announced that the closure of the Gav News office took place amid a political conflict between Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrur Barzani and his cousin, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, who is close to him according to NRT TV channel Gav News.

CPJ notes that Gav News has not posted anything new on its Facebook account or website since November 12.

CPJ also says that they have sent emails to the Kurdistan Regional Government's International Defense Cooperation Coordinator, Dindar Zebari, and Lawk Gafuri, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's external media relations office, but neither has yet responded to the emails. .

At the end of the statement, CPJ points out that it has sent a message to Gav New through the phone app, but has not received a response.

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