Kurdish journalists in Iraq criticized after Iranian immolates himself on camera
The asylum seeker from Iran told the Kurdish media outlet Rudaw that he has no work.
Journalists in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were criticized by local authorities and on social media Tuesday after a man they were interviewing set himself on fire.
A man from the western Iranian city of Bukan “carried out an act of self-immolation” in front of the United Nations headquarters in Erbil on Tuesday, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement.
Video of the graphic incident posted on Kurdish social media showed the man speaking to reporters from a few media outlets holding a yellow liquid. He then poured the liquid on himself, set himself on fire and ran away from the journalists as the camera continued recording.
The Erbil-based news outlet Rudaw identified the man as Behzad Mahmoudi, a 25-year-old Kurd from Iran. He survived the incident; he told Rudaw that he has no work and money and was dismissed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) after asking for help.
