Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Transport and Communication cannot block pornographic websites without a law ratified by parliament, minister said.

“We as the Ministry of Transport and Communication support calls for blocking pornographic websites in the Kurdistan Region as we believe [such websites] harm the society in general and the youths in particular,” reads a statement by Minister Mawloud Mourad.

However, he explained that blocking websites with pornographic content needs a law passed by Kurdistan Region parliament as internet providers are all privet sector companies.

Referring to a law ratified by the Iraqi parliament in 2015, the Kurdish minister stated that Kurdistan Region also can put the same law into action in the region, after which the ministry will be able to act against such websites.

In September 2015, the Iraqi parliament voted on a draft law committing the Iraqi Ministry of Communications to block porn websites, but KRG had said at that time that it will not abide by the decision.

Since October 2015 the Kurdistan parliament has been in recess after Kurdistan Parliament’s Speaker Yusuf Mohammad Sadiq was prevented by the ruling KDP party forces from entering Erbil city on October 12, 2015 and Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani has removed four members of his cabinet from the Change Movement and replaced them with KDP politicians.

The Kurdish opposition accused the Barzani and his KDP of a monopoly all government’s positions in Erbil.

Source: ekurd.net