Iraq’s Kurdistan government calls for protection of journalists.

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: The Minister of Culture & Youth in north Iraq ’s Kurdistan Region’s government, has said on Saturday that there exists an urgent necessity for the protection of journalists, confirming that recent violations against reporters “didn’t reflect the Region’s government policy.”   “There is an urgent necessity to protect journalists, whether in Kurdistan, other parts of Iraq or its neighboring states,” Minister Kawa Mahmoud told IraqiNews.com news agency.   He said that his government “strives to achieve a legal protection for reporters, based on its policy, that supports the draft-law for the protection of journalists,” adding that “the government and Parliament of Kurdistan do not object the revision of the draft-law, in such a way that serves the peaceful, democratic and civilian development.”   “The Kurdistan government has announced that it would investigate recent violations, committed against reporters or demonstrators, along with the security elements,” the Minister said, calling on reporters, who “had been exposed for such violations to raise cases with the police and courts, because the government respects human rights and opposes violations, committed against reporters.”   Noteworthy is that the Iraqi Society for the Defense of Journalists Rights had announced in Baghdad on Saturday that “266 violations had been committed against reporters in Kurdistan Region over the past two months, during the popular protests, demanding reforms and ending corruption, among them attacks, detentions or confiscation of reporting materials.”   SKH (RT) 492