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Journalist a Dangerous Occupation
5.5.2006
By Tiare Rath in Sulaimaniyah (ICR No. 175)
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Kidnapping, murder and
arrest are the price of doing business in the most
dangerous country in the world to practice
journalism.
Press freedom in Iraq is crippled by a surge in
violence directed at the media, according to Iraqi
journalists.
Members of the press face intimidation, kidnapping,
assassination and harassment on a daily basis,
particularly in Baghdad and the northern city of
Mosul. In the relatively secure Kurdish areas,
journalists are complaining about an increase in
arrests and a new law that curbs press freedoms.
Organisations promoting freedom of the press say
Iraq is the most dangerous country in the world for
journalists. Statistics from the New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists indicate the
conflict is the deadliest for members of the media
since the early 1980s.
Sixty-eight reporters and 24 media support workers
have been killed since March 2003. Forty nine of
those were Iraqi. Eight have died this year,
including IWPR trainee Kamal Manahi Anbar who was
killed on March 26.
"Crossfire…car bombings…abductions….murders together
make [Iraq] an almost prohibitively dangerously
environment for journalists," said Joel Campagna,
CPJ Middle East programme coordinator.
The media scene in Iraq is expanding, with over 100
publications in Baghdad alone, but the violence
often overshadows the strides made since Saddam
Hussein's reign and has left journalism in a "very,
very deep crisis", according to Ismael Zayer,
editor-in-chief of the independent daily newspaper
al-Sabah al-Jadeed [The New Morning].
"In most of the cases we can't say what we know.
We're afraid that if we publish what we know we'll
be threatened," said Zayer. "Of course you can write
a beautiful, brilliant piece, but it might be the
last piece you write."
Zayer, who survived a kidnapping attempt in 2004
during which his bodyguard and driver were killed,
fled Iraq a month ago after receiving a threat that
he would be assassinated by a religious militia that
he did not want to name. He said he was told his
name has been taken off a "hit list" and plans to
return to Baghdad.
Zayer, an Iraqi with Dutch citizenship, said a
European conference that he helped plan on the
dangers facing Iraqi journalists was recently
cancelled because several of the journalists had
gone into hiding.
The threats are leading journalists to self-censor
their work on issues from corruption to militias,
maintained Zayer.
He said at least four of his reporters resigned last
month because they fear working in the industry, and
one of his senior editors will leave the country
after receiving numerous threats against himself and
his family. Many of Iraq's top journalists flee to
Jordan, he said.
Hussein al-Yaseri, an editor with the US-backed
Radio Nawa and a former IWPR trainee, knows of at
least three top journalists who have either fled the
country recently or plan to leave. He said
journalists often hide their professions from
friends and neighbours.
"Journalists are targeted because they usually
convey the truth," said Hussein al-Yaseri.
Yaseri maintained that politicians generally respect
press freedom, even though there is not an official
press law, and do not try to influence media
outlets. But Zayer said it was difficult for
journalists from independent news organisations to
access documents and official government sources.
The journalists said it is important that the
government take a stronger stance against the
killing of media workers.
"We need a serious stand where people know [if they]
kill journalists, they will never escape," Zayer
said.
Reporters in northern Iraq are less concerned about
violence but have noticed a rise in arrests and
harassment of their colleagues. Many have also
expressed concern about a press law that is expected
to go before the Kurdish parliament in early May.
Asos Hardi, editor-in-chief of the new independent
Kurdish newspaper Awene, said in the north there is
"a margin of freedom of speech".
"When there is no legally protected freedom of
speech, it depends on the will of the politicians,"
he said.
While party-run outlets are prevalent in all of
Iraq, they are particularly strong in the north
where the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the
Kurdistan Democratic Party dominate the media and
government.
The Kurdistan Journalists' Syndicate is the leading
organisation for media professionals and is run by
party-affiliated journalists.
It has worked with journalists and legal experts to
propose a controverisal press law which contains
clauses that prohibit publishing any content that is
"against public customs", "instigates violence or
terrorism", might harm the "grand interests of the
region" or infringes on or defames religious groups.
The law was proposed three months ago, and the
syndicate received complaints from "provocative
journalists" who "talked about it as if it was the
end of the world", said Fared Zamdar, head of the
syndicate in the eastern city of Sulaimaniyah and an
editor with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's media
operations.
He added the syndicate has expanded the law to
include electronic and broadcast media.
"To me, there is no absolute freedom," said Zamdar.
"There aren't just rights, there are duties."
Another clause in the law says that journalists
cannot publish any regional military secrets or
details from defence-related meetings. It also
precludes journalists from access to confidential
information or information that may endanger
security.
"That's the problem," said Hardi. "Who decides which
case is related to national security? What is the
definition of national security?"
The law is moving toward parliament as arrests of
journalists begin to rise.
Hardi, former editor of the independent newspaper
Hawlati, and Hawlati editor-in-chief, Twana Osman,
were convicted on May 2 of publishing incorrect
information. Sulaimaniyah prime minister Omar Fatah
sued the journalists for a Hawlati article that
claimed Fatah had fired two civil servants for
cutting his phone line because he hadn't paid the
bill.
Hardi and Osman were sentenced to six months in
jail, but the judge commuted the sentence and fined
them 75,000 dinar (about 50 US dollars) each.
Kamal Sayid Qadir was sentenced to 30 years after
writing an inflammatory and critical article against
Kurdistan regional president Masood Barzani. Under
pressure from international and local journalism
organisations, his sentence was later reduced to 18
months and then further commuted.
"You can't say you support a free press and support
a democracy when you throw journalists in prison,"
said Campagna.
Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan have complained that
security forces seized their cameras and notebooks
and sometimes harassed or beat them during
demonstrations. Some have been briefly detained.
After a riot broke out in Halabja in March, the
journalists' syndicate called on reporters to turn
over their materials to help the authorities arrest
demonstrators.
Hawez Hawezi, who writes for Hawlati, will be tried
for defamation for an opinion piece he wrote calling
for Iraqi Kurds to leave the region because of poor
leadership. He called the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party
pharaohs.
"Many times the provocative journalists have caused
us problems," said Zamdar.
During the interview with IWPR, he received a call
from a journalist who was being sued for libel.
Zamdar noted that the syndicate has to find
attorneys for its members, even if they do not agree
with what the journalists write.
A security official, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, said the arrests of journalists are
rising, with their number dependent on the mood of
government and party officials. Often, he continued,
detentions are made without a judge's warrant,
"Officials are arresting journalists as they please
without being questioned."
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