RojNews agency once again calls on KDP to release journalist Ehmed

RojNews agency once again condemned the illegal abduction of its editor Silêman Ehmed and called on the KDP to release him immediately. The journalist was arrested eleven days ago.

There is still no news of the journalist Silêman Ehmed, who was abducted by KDP security forces in South Kurdistan on 25 October. The employee of the Arabic-language editorial team of the RojNews news agency initially disappeared after visiting family in Aleppo at the Sêmalka-Pêşxabûr border crossing between the Autonomous Region of North and East Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The last contact with him was a telephone conversation with his mother when he was already in the KDP's area of responsibility. Six days later, the Asayîş security agency in Dihok announced that they accused the journalist of being a member of the PKK and, therefore, they had arrested him.

RojNews said it holds the KDP responsible for the life and safety of its editor.

Ehmed comes from Afrin and has been working for the news agency in South Kurdistan for five years. “We condemn the illegal abduction of Silêman Ehmed and demand immediate clarification about his situation as well as his immediate release,” RojNews said on Saturday.

Many Kurdish media organizations support journalists, such as the Kurdish PEN Center (Navenda PEN a Kurd), the journalists' association DFG from Amed and the Mesopotamian Journalists' Association, as well as international associations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the CPJ are calling on the KDP to release Silêman Ehmed.

RSF said: "We are concerned about the incommunicado detention since 25 October of Roj News agency editor in chief Suleyman Ahmet, arrested by the Kurdistan Democratic Party on the Syrian border. Kurdish security forces must release him immediately."