Sardar Muhammad

Sardar Muhammad is a pioneer of independent journalism in Iraqi Kurdistan. He worked for the very first independent newspaper in the autonomous region, Hawlati, founded in 2000, and he was among those who launched the newspaper Awene in January 2006, of which he is now the editor. The paper has become an institution in the region and its journalists are forced to wage a daily battle to ensure their independence and safety. One of the paper’s contributors, Kawa Germyani, was murdered last December in Sulaymaniyah, the third journalist to be murdered in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2008. Despite the climate of violence, Muhammad and his staff battle every day to make freedom of information in Iraqi Kurdistan a reality.