Iraq

Mouloud Anfand, the editor of the controversial magazine Kurd-Israel, has been missing since 9 June in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region.

Hamin Ary has been held since 7 May for reprinting an allegedly blasphemous article by a controversial Kurdish writer living in self-exile in Norway. He faces a possible three-year sentence

A journalist was also wounded when a bomb attached to his car detonated. CPJ urges authorities to launch an investigation into the attack.

Sherwan Sherwani was arrested following a complaint about a May 2011 article accusing the head of the municipality of embezzling public funds, a claim for which the article provide some evidence.

In recent weeks, journalists have been arrested, assaulted by authorities, and been the target of terrorist attacks by armed groups.

An open letter by 44 organisations calls Iraq’s proposed Information Technology Crimes law a threat to the fundamental freedoms necessary for the evolution of free speech and a vibrant press. The law will come to vote in the Iraqi Council of Representatives in April.

Kamiran Salaheddin was a news anchor and host of the current affairs programme Iraq and Events on Salahaddin TV, and also headed the local journalists’ union.

Rahman Gharib, coordinator for the local press freedom group Metro Center to Defend Journalists, was beaten on the head and leg, and arrested by security forces after he took some photographs during protests in Sulaimaniya.

The law, which took effect in November, fails to offer any meaningful protection to journalists and imposes restrictions on who can be defined as a journalist and how one can practice and access information.

Guards at a Baghdad hospital detained Alfayad for publishing news about the firing of 36 policemen in the area, information that was broadcast by multiple news agencies.

Since the violence began shortly after Friday prayers on 2 December, six news media outlets have been torched and at least 15 journalists have been physically attacked or detained for questioning.

On 25 October, the provincial council of Al-Qadisiya decided to close the radio station Al-Sada, the only independent broadcaster in the province, on the grounds that its programmes contained music which was “contrary to local morality”.

The Draft Law cites, as its basis, multiple negative consequences of the “information revolution” without acknowledging the positive role technology performs in today’s society, not least of all in enhancing the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. The Draft Law provides no guarantees for the right to freedom of expression or freedom of information.

In one of the latest cases, unidentified gunmen fired on Al-Iraqiya TV reporter Abd Al-Hasan Al-Rukaabi as he was driving between the southern city of Nasriyah and the nearby town of Al-Refai on 19 October.

The new media law’s vagueness and many serious omissions are all the more incomprehensible for the fact that many NGOs offered detailed critiques and proposed specific recommendations for ways to better protect journalists and combat impunity.

A representative from Kurdistan’s intelligence agency said he had filed a defamation suit against “Lvin” in response to the report about the incident posted on its website.