Kalar: At least 10 gunmen stormed the offices of the only independent community Radio Dang (Voice) station in Kalar, southeast of Sulaimaniyah, on Sunday, interrupted its programming, destroyed most of its equipments and took the station off air.
The gunmen attacked the offices at 2:30 in the morning, handcuffed the night guard of the building, which houses several businesses, broke into the 2-room offices of the station and destroyed all recording, archiving, and broadcasting equipments. The gunmen also stolen other equipment of the station.
Jaza Mohamed Samin, owner of the station said that the staff had received threats before the attack. He also said that these threats were designed to keep them quiet, “so that we would not refer to the situation in the Kurdistan region and to the demonstrations in Sulaimaniyah and Kalar.”
This is the second time that the stations is targeted. On March 4, 2010, just a few days after the launch of the station, security forces raided the station and confiscated its equipment. They later recovered the equipments.
The material damage that the station sustained by this attack is estimated to be at least 25,000 US Dollars.
The relatively small radio station was established by donations of several local people in Kalar. It is operated by 12 volunteers. The station was the only independent radio in the Garmyan area, which has a population of nearly 400,000.
The Kurdistan Region’s Authorities has not condemned the attack yet. The station holds the government responsible for the attack until the perpetrators are found and brought to justice.
For more information, please contact:
Azad Osman, executive director of Radio Dang (Kurdish and Arabic): 00964 770 192 3662
Mohamed Hussein, board member of Radio Dang (English): 00964 770 130 3105
