Kurdish journalist Shakar Star was released nine days after he was detained by Asayish forces in a checkpoint in Koya.

“We spoke to him around an hour ago through his wife’s phone, he has been released,” Rahman Gharib, head of Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy, told The New Region on Monday, adding that Star had been released on bail.

“However, his phone and equipment are still seized at Asayish, which they should have given back to him,” he added.

Star was traveling back to Erbil from Sulaimani with his family on May 18, when he was arrested at a checkpoint in Koya city.

Star was a reporter and presenter at Tiwar media outlet and upon reaching the Ashti checkpoint in Koya city, he was arrested and his car was seized.

His wife and two children were later accompanied back to Sulaimani as he was taken by an armed force.

At the time of the arrest, Director of Metro Center Diyari Mohammed told The New Region that Star was arrested upon a lawsuit by Sulaimani Asayish.

Star’s lawyer told local media outlets on Monday that the lawsuit was not against Star himself, but rather against the outlet he was working for, claiming that is what led to his release on bail, claiming that he had nothing to do with the rhetoric put forth for him to read at the outlet as a presenter.

“Any one or any institution that wants to file a lawsuit against a media organization, they can do so, but the case needs to be addressed through the journalism and press law,” Gharib said.