Their criticism follows similar remarks from Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders last week against the government of the autonomous region in Iraq's north.

"Kurdistan regional government officials and security forces are carrying out a growing assault on the freedom of journalists to work in Iraqi Kurdistan," HRW said in a statement.

"Regional officials should stop repressing journalists through libel suits, beatings, detentions, and death threats," the New York-based group added.

A spokesman for the Kurdistan region presidency was not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.

HRW noted in particular the case of Lvin magazine, which was sued for libel last week by the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of regional president Massud Barzani. The KDP has demanded that Lvin be shut.

The rights group also claimed that on May 11, Kurdish authorities in the region's second biggest city of Sulaimaniyah detained Bryar Namiq, a journalist with the Kurdistan News Network television station, before insulting and physically assaulting him.

The Kurdistan region has since the beginning of the year been the site of regular protests against corruption and nepotism within the government, dominated by the KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

According to HRW, several journalists who covered or participated in the protests are now living in fear of reprisal.

"In a time when the Middle East is erupting in demands to end repression, the Kurdish authorities are trying to stifle and intimidate critical journalism," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the rights group's Middle East director.