(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is an IFJ media release: IFJ Protests Over Baghdad Arrest of Journalists And Questions Coalition Media Strategy The International Federation of Journalists today called on United States forces in Iraq to explain why troops arrested three journalists in Baghdad working for the Arabic television channel Al-Aalam. “These arrests are the latest […]
(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is an IFJ media release:
IFJ Protests Over Baghdad Arrest of Journalists And Questions Coalition Media Strategy
The International Federation of Journalists today called on United States forces in Iraq to explain why troops arrested three journalists in Baghdad working for the Arabic television channel Al-Aalam.
“These arrests are the latest in a series of incidents that raise questions over what media strategy is in place to protect journalists from harassment,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary.
The Al-Aalam network, one of the most popular sources of news in Iraq since the US-led invasion, says reporters and cameramen Sami Hassan, Zoheir Mostafa and Ghuran Tofiq were detained yesterday in front of the central police building in Baghdad.
US officials have not commented yet on the reasons for the arrests, which come at a time of increasing concern about the treatment of journalists. The Somali Journalists Network on Sunday protested over the harassment by US soldiers of journalist Ali Mohammed Halane, and in April, American marines arrested another reporter of Al-Aalam. Abdol Hadi Zeighami was arrested while reporting on US tanks entering the town of Kut, around 170 km southeast of Baghdad. He was released after five hours of detention, but the film which the Al-Aalam crew had shot was confiscated.
“These actions indicate that journalists continue to be subject to unacceptable pressure,” said Aidan White. “The military administration must come clean about why arrests are taking place and explain each incident. It is unacceptable to have arbitrary and unexplained actions that are tantamount to intimidation.”
Controversy still rages around the killings by coalition soldiers of journalists in April. Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and a reporter for the Spanish television network Telecinco, Jose Couso, died after a US tank opened fire at the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad. On the same day, Al-Jazeera television reporter/producer Tareq Ayoub was killed in a US air strike on the company’s offices in Baghdad. Earlier, outside Basra, ITN journalist Terry Lloyd was killed and two journalists – Fred Nerac and Hussein Osman – remain missing after coalition forces shot up their marked vehicle.
The IFJ represents more than 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries.
