Iraq

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information denounces the continuing violations and abuses of media professionals and journalists in the Iraqi territories.

Mohammed Fouad, a photographer for the independent satellite channel ANB, and his assistant, Afdhel Jumaa, were released on bail of one million Iraqi dinars (approximately US$850) each, Fouad told CPJ.

Two Iraqi journalists who have been held for two weeks without formal charge or access to a lawyer in connection with the alleged theft of a senior official’s notebook.

Mohamed Fouad Tawfik, a photographer at the Iraqi News Agency ANB, and his assistant Afdal Jouma, were arrested and imprisoned by forces from the Ministry of Defence after being summoned to its offices under false pretenses on 4 June 2013.

On 14 May, a group of armed men raided the home of a journalist and briefly abducted his brother. The brother said the guards took him to the house of a prominent Sunni sheikh, Majid Ali Suleiman, where they demanded he stop writing about corruption.

The Iraqi government has hurled the country to the brink of a new civil war. In under a month, Baghdad launched a vicious assault on a Sunni protest camp, resulting in 44 deaths; executed 21 alleged Sunni terrorists in one day, and suspended the licenses of 10 satellite channels, 9 of them deemed pro-Sunni.

A preliminary parliamentary committee report based in part on witness interviews claims top Iraqi officials ordered a raid on a demonstrators’ camp in Haweeja on 23 April 2013 indicating that security forces killed 44 civilians.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and its affiliate, the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate (IJS), denounced the ongoing attacks against journalists in Iraq and issued a series of recommendations to improve the safety and rights of journalists in the country.

Iraqi authorities suspended the operating licences of pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera and nine other TV channels after accusing them of escalating sectarian tension.

Local sources and media reports said security forces attacked demonstrators without provocation, killing dozens of people. The government provided another narrative and put the death toll at 27.

The central government in Baghdad decided that nationwide local elections scheduled for 20 April should be postponed for at least six months in some areas because of an increase in violence but the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan are going ahead with the polling as planned in the three provinces they govern.

Journalists at the newspapers said the men attacked staff with batons and knives, smashing furniture and equipment. Five Al Dustour journalists were injured, four with stab wounds and one because he was thrown from the roof of the building.

Journalists at the newspapers said the men attacked staff with batons and knives, smashing furniture and equipment. Five Al Dustour journalists were injured, four with stab wounds and one because he was thrown from the roof of the building.

Australian cameraman Paul Moran was murdered by a suicide car bomb in 2003 while on assignment in Northern Iraq; groups are calling for action to ensure that his killers are brought to justice.

An investigation into a female Iraqi writer’s allegations of being subjected to rape, torture, and verbal abuse during the years she spent in Iraqi prisons for writing articles critical of the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Malki has not yet been launched.

Fatalities during the U.S.-led war in Iraq far surpass any other documented war-time death toll for the press.