RSF "condemns yesterday's illegal arrest and beating of Lvin magazine editor Ahmed Mira by special forces in Sulaimaniyah, in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. Mira was held for three hours before being freed by a judge," the statement said.

It quoted Mira as saying that men in special forces uniforms stormed the magazine's offices, threatening his secretary and conducting an extensive search of his office.

"Then I was handcuffed and hit on the legs and ankles with the butt of a Kalashnikov (rifle). My brother Osman was also hit," Mira said, adding that he was eventually brought before a judge who ordered his release over three hours after the incident began.

"I still don't know why I was attacked like this. I have filed a complaint against the special forces and against the police officers who insulted me when I was at the police station," Mira said.

RSF said that Kurdistan's intelligence agency had denied that special forces were involved in the attack, which comes on the heels of another assault against a Kurdish journalist in Sulaimaniyah.

Asos Hardi, who helped found two of the region's biggest independent newspapers, said he was attacked in late August by a young man who beat him with the butt of a pistol after he left his office.

"I am confident they will not find him. Dozens of attacks happen like this (against journalists)," Hardi said.

Human Rights Watch said the assault on Hardi was the latest in a series of "escalating attacks and threats" faced by journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan and called for an independent investigation.