Journalists in Iraq are facing repeated violations of human rights and are targeted with impunity by sectarian terror groups, the Iraqi forces and the United States army, the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Tuesday.
Journalists are being unfairly arrested and subjected to “improper searches” by the Iraqi security forces and the U.S. army, the report said.
This comes in addition to the precarious security situation in which reporters are being killed, kidnapped, arrested and detained for no valid reason, RSF said.
At least 150 journalists and media employees have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Last Thursday, six armed men attacked the home of the editor of the A-Dustour daily in eastern Baghdad. The editor was not at home at the time.
On Friday, Jamal Zoubeidi from the Iraq daily A-Safir who also writes for A-Dustour, disappeared. His family could not find him in hospitals or morgues. They suspect he was kidnapped, but have not been contacted by abductors.
The group is urging Iraqi authorities and the coalition forces to give clear instructions to troops responsible for maintaining order to allow journalists to carry out their work without interference.