Freedomhouse.org---- free speech ranking in Iraq

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=173

COUNTRY RATINGS FOR IRAQ
Nondiscrimination and Access to Justice: 2.7
Autonomy, Security, and Freedom of the Person: 2.6
Economic Rights and Equal Opportunity: 2.8
Political Rights and Civic Voice: 2.2
Social and Cultural Rights: 2.1
(Scale of 1 to 5: 1 represents the lowest and 5 the highest level of freedom women have to exercise their rights)

The majority of the Kurds live in Iraq and Northern Iraq is the proposed territory for the nation of Kurdistan, if it is realized. The Kurdish people have been kept under an oppressive rule for quite some time, yet are now working on ways to form their own government and create a functioning democratic nation for themselves.

Amy Kurdish journalists still live and work in other countries, from Iran, Turkey, to Denmark and everywhere else you can imagine---- yet the idea of an independent Kurdish nation in Northern Iraq is still a dream for many Kurdish people.

Within Iraq as well as with many other countries, the Kurdish rights to free speech is attacked, from Turkey limiting some Kurdish networks or publications as being a front for a supposed terrorist group like the PKK, or in Iran where a journalist or intellectual could be imprisoned or killed for saying anything critical of the government or its policies.

In Iraq, there have been threats of violence and violent attacks on journalists to limit what they can and cannot cover, and in many cases the governing body which is supposed ot represent the Kurdish people and their interests has been the biggest challenge in the Kurdish rights to freedom of speech and their rights to a free press.