Metro,kurdsat
The Metro Center for guarding press freedom calls on international organizations to safeguard Internet security in the Kurdistan region.
in a show of solidarity with journalists in the Kurdistan region against malicious cyber-attacks, the center organized a meeting for prominent Kurdish journalists, critics, and dissidents in the Kurdistan region's Sulaimani.
Cyber-attacks have become an additional obstacle to freedom of the press and opinion, Metro center declared.
Director of the Metro Center, Raman Gharib, invited a group of editors-in-chief of prominent Kurdish media outlets to a discussion at the Draw Media Foundation office. They held a round table to discuss topics related to Internet freedom and cyber-attacks on some news websites.
The participants unanimously agreed to write a memorandum and direct it to international organizations and Meta (Facebook) to protect journalists from attacks and make the internet safer for freedom of press and opinion.
Kurdistan region's Sulaimani is home to a diverse number of papers, media outlets, and TV stations, both domestic and international, that operate in the free environment of Sulaimani.
Hackers recently targeted Kurdish news outlets such as the Diplomatic Magazine and Bwar Media after publishing corruption papers. The attack downed both media websites and halted their journalist operations.
'Several journalists submitted complaints and told us about targeting personal computers and mobile devices for their journalistic work.' Gharib said in the meeting.
The Metro Center had opposed a bill submitted by the Cultural Committee of the Parliament of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to 'regulate' electronic media and considered it a frightening trend to restrict freedom of expression. The bill's design might limit journalists' access to material and information.
Metro Center for Defending the Rights of Journalists was established in August 2009 by journalists and human rights defenders. It was founded in cooperation with the American Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). The center aims to monitor, defend, and protect the freedom of the press and journalists in the Kurdistan Region.