Anbar journalists' union chief rejects press freedom ranking report

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The head of the Iraqi Journalists Union's Anbar branch on Thursday rejected a report by the Nahril Center for Human Rights and Press Freedoms that placed Anbar province second only to Baghdad in documented press freedom violations. Ahmed Rashid, who leads the union's Anbar branch, said the report relied largely on incorrect information and did not reflect the reality of press freedom in the province. He said Anbar provides a safe working environment for journalists and that security conditions there are not markedly different from those in other Iraqi cities. Rashid stated that no journalists had been arrested in the province in the past four years. He said only journalist Khalid Kara Guli had been subjected to what he described as a polite questioning process lasting less than an hour. The Nahril Center's report documented 59 press freedom violations across Iraq in the first half of 2026, with the highest concentrations after Baghdad and Anbar recorded in Karbala, Basra, Erbil and Kirkuk. The center noted that the number of violations declined in the second quarter compared with the first.