Metro Center for Journalists’ Rights and Advocacy announces, "If in a country crime is not punished, gangsters feel it is normal to attack journalists and humiliate them.”

 Metro said in statement, "in a demonstration of the residents of Smellan sub-district, in the town of Choman in the province of Erbil, who asked for services, the correspondent of NRT channel was attacked in front of the eyes of the demonstrators. A man, who is said to be a bodyguard of a KDP office, punched Abdo Hussein in the face.”

In a phone call with the journalist, Metro condemned the act, and the head of Metro described the attack as "brutal” to the media.  

In its statement, Metro announced that, "the sucker punch to the face of Abdo Hussein, who attended the event to cover the demonstration, was a strong punch for all those who are in the profession and have not yet become the victim of the system in the region.”   

"If in a country crime is not punished, gangsters feel it is normal to attack journalists and humiliate them,” it emphasized.

Metro insisted in previous official occasions, "if in a country crime is not punished, if those who are involved in killing, injuring, beating, and arresting journalists as well as burning, and robbing the media offices and breaking cameras and confiscating mobiles and equipment of journalists are not punished, gangsters of the executive power think it is normal to kick journalists and if they do not do it, then it will be abnormal.”   

 Metro Center for Defending Journalists’ Rights is an independent and non-profit organization; it was founded by a group of journalists in 2009 in the city of Sulaimaniyah.  In 2010, Metro Center held its first conference in the city of Erbil, in which the Board of Administration and Management Council were elected.