August 24th, 2025, Sulaimani: Metro Center rejects dealing with Zoom Channel and seizing its office by force, calls on the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to order the forces to vacate the building and hand it over to the management of the channel.
After the arrest of Zoom by an armed force, the fate of Zoom and its employees faces several possibilities, the strongest of which is a repeat of what happened in 2021 with iPLUS.
After the bloody clashes on the morning of August 22nd, 2025 in Sulaimani and the control of the headquarters of (People’s Front) party and the house of Lahur Sheikh Jangi, a security force raided the office of Zoom channel. Their exact number is unknown. The force is still inside the office located in the Darwaza City residential project.
Before the forces took control of the office, the channel received a message that armed forces were coming to the channel. Zoom employees were outside the building before the armed forces arrived. "We ask the security forces to evacuate the channel and return its equipment," Zoom director, Hemn Mahmoud told Metro.
In February of 2022, Zoom received a license from the Iraqi Media and Communications Board and the Kurdistan Regional Government. On August 29th of the same year, they introduced themselves on social media. On June 25th, 2024, the channel began broadcasting. The channel was broadcasted in Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaimani offices together. They have 200 employees. It continued to air until 10am on August 22nd.
Previously, iPLUS was financially supported by Lahur Sheikh Jangi. On the evening of July 13th, 2021, a security force raided the channel and confiscated its building and equipment.
A day later, iPLUS was placed on the PUK press office and the logo of (Gali Kurdistan) TV was hung on the building.
On December 18th, 2024, a new channel (Channel 8) began broadcasting inside the iPLUS building based on a large part of its equipment and staff, under the slogan "You deserve the truth”.
Metro Center rejects the dealing with Zoom TV and the seizure of its office by force, calling on the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to order the forces to vacate the building and hand it over to the management of the channel.
About Metro Center:
Metro Center was established in August of 2009 by a group of journalists and human rights defenders in collaboration with the Institute for War and Peace Reporters (IWPR). Since its establishment, it has been supported through projects by IWPR, the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), International Media Support (IMS), the Gulf Center for Human Rights, the US State Department, Internews and IRI.
metrocenter2009@gmail.com