Hama said that, shortly after his arrival, the KDP headquarters received a phone call from General Ramazan Mohammed Karim, the head of the political unit of the PUK Asayish security forces in Koya.
Karim demanded that the journalist be released into the custody of his forces but did not disclose a reason why, the journalist told CPJ. The head of the KDP headquarters then refused the general's order and called a PUK official to secure Hama’s safe passage out of the city. He was later escorted back to Erbil without incident.
Hama claimed the incident came a few days after men from the PUK met with him and tried to persuade him to join their party, which he declined.
According to a CPJ report released in March, Kurdish journalists often find themselves caught in the middle of rising tensions between political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Hama told the organization that he felt the harassment was likely linked to two articles he wrote for Kurdistan 24 that criticized the PUK military forces’ handover of Kirkuk to federal security forces without a fight on October 16, 2017.
The military takeover of the disputed province by Iraqi forces and Shia militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in October 2017 has been one of the main recent sources of animosity between the PUK and the KDP.
This has contributed, among other sensitive issues, to the two parties months-long inability to reach an agreement on appointing a new Kurdish governor of Kirkuk. A deal between the KDP and PUK was announced in early June that would select a new governor, but it has not yet been fully implemented.
The PUK's media office did not reply to CPJ's emailed request for comment.
Editing by John J. Catherine