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Iraqi Kurdistan: Lawsuits raining down on
news media
21.12.2010
Reporters Without Borders
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December
21, 2010
PARIS, —
Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) and head of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) voiced clear support for
media freedom during his party’s congress on 13
December but in recent months more and more lawsuits
have been brought against the Kurdish media, and not
just the independent ones. Newspaper editors
nowadays seem to be spending their time in the
corridors outside courtrooms.
Biggest ever fine for Rega
magazine
In a ruling issued on 12 December, a court in Erbil
fined the magazine Rega35 million Iraqi dinars
(22,660 euros) for a report suggesting that the
KDP’s security force were involved in last May’s
murder of journalist Sardasht Osman. Referring to
Barzani, the magazine went so far as to write: “If a
president cannot protect the lives of his fellow
citizens, he should resign.”
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Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's Kurdistan
region. |
The ruling was the
result of a lawsuit that KDP general secretary Fazil
Mirani brought against the magazine on 23 September
in which he had demanded 500 million Iraqi dinars
(324,000 euros) in damages.
“This fine is exorbitant,” Rega owner and editor
Soran Omersaid, referring to the 35 million dinars.
“This is more about revenge than a fair and just
decision. The trial lasted more than three months
but everything was settled in just eight days. The
magazine was prosecuted under provisions of the
Iraqi civil code instead of the press code in force
in Kurdistan, which provides of a maximum fine of 17
million dinars.”
It is the biggest fine ever imposed on a publication
in the KRG region and poses a real threat to media
freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan. Why did the judge agree
to the magazine’s being prosecuted on a basis other
than Kurdistan’s press code? Such a large fine would
result in the publication’s immediate demise. If
confirmed on appeal, it will set a very dangerous
precedent for freedom of expression in the
autonomous Kurdish region.
“The court that handled the Regacase is not
independent,” Omer added. “It is clearly in the
KDP’s service. The expert who determined the size of
the fine is also a party member. He was one of the
KDP candidates in the lawyers union elections two
months ago. They can always arrest me but I won’t
give them a cent. The verdict was clearly biased in
favour of the KDP. The aim of such practices is to
thwart the efforts of those who defend freedom of
expression and independent media. They know
perfectly well that we are not rich.”
Anwar Hussein Bazgr, who heads the Committee for the
Protection of Journalists, an offshoot of the
Kurdistan Union of Journalists, told Reporters
Without Borders he was very worried about what was
happening to Rega. “We believe in the rule of law.
We continue to think that that the region’s
journalists and news media should be prosecuted
under Kurdistan’s press code, not other Iraqi laws
or KRG laws.”
The Standard
An Erbil court fined the Standard newspaper 6
million Iraqi dinars (3,900 euros) on 13 December as
a result off lawsuit brought by the agriculture
ministry. Massud Abdulkaliq, the newspaper’s owner
and editor, said the decision made him very
concerned about the KRG judicial system’s
independence.
Awene, non-partisan
newspaper
Shwan Muhammad, the editor of the non-partisan
weekly Awene, said he had received seven court
summonses in the past week as a result of complaints
filed by Naliya, a company whose owners have close
ties with Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), which governs Iraqi Kurdistan in
coalition with the KDP.
The lawsuits were prompted by a 28 September article
claiming that newly-built houses in a well-to-do
residential district of Sulaymaniyah called “German
Village” did not comply with safety regulations
issued by the authorities after a fire in the Soma
Hotel on the night of 16 July that left 27 dead.
Awene reported that the safety committee had
publicly declared the houses to be in non-compliance
with the latest regulations but the public notices
that the safety committee posted on the walls of
“German Village” were torn down by the company.
“When we wrote this article, we interviewed the
company, residents and the Sulaymaniyah
governorate’s engineers,” Muhammad said. “We did not
defame anyone. We just did our job as journalists.
But when you write about this company you clearly
risk being sued the next day.” Muhammad added that
Naliya also asked the residents to sue Awene, and
two of the seven summonses were as a result of
complaints filed by residents. In all, Naliya has
brought ten suits against Awene since April.
Bas, pro-KDP newspaper
The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), a party created
in 1994 that has seven seats in the KRG parliament
and three in the National Assembly in Baghdad,
demanded enormous sums in damages from the pro-KDP
weekly Bas and a singer in two unrelated lawsuits.
The suit against Baswas prompted by an article the
weekly published on 23 November that included what
was purported to be a copy of a letter from the
KIU’s leader, Salahaddin Muhammad, to Oussama
Tikriti,www.ekurd.netthe
general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP)
requesting 350,000 dollars to help the KIU overcome
its financial difficulties and embark on new
projects.
The KIU filed a complaint with an Erbil court the
next day accusing Basof libel and publishing false
documents, and demanding 2 billion Iraqi dinars (1.3
million euros) in damages. Originally supposed to
issue a ruling on 16 December, the court postponed
its decision until 28 December.
KIU spokesman Salahadin Babakr told Reporters
Without Borders the party decided to sue Bas“because
it isn’t the first time that it has published false
documents smearing the party and its representatives
without reason.” He added: “According to the Iraqi
criminal code, when a newspaper libels or insults
someone, the person concerned can sue for damages.
If these newspapers aren’t afraid of publishing
false documents, then we should let the courts
decide.”
KIU lawyer Muhammad Hawdiyani said such publications
posed a danger to democracy and that it was out of a
concern to defend democracy that the KIU filed its
lawsuit.
The KIU’s lawsuit is also nonetheless based on the
more repressive provisions of the Iraqi criminal
code rather than on the KRG press code. Bas editor
Barham Ali meanwhile told Reporters Without Borders
he was convinced of the authenticity of the disputed
document: “The document we published clearly showed
that the KIU requested 350,000 dollars in aid from
the IIP. We are convinced of its authenticity. We
got by contacting the KIU itself.”
In the other KIU lawsuit, filed by the party’s
satellite TV station Speda, the young singer Loka
Zahir was sued for 1 billion dollars in damages for
deliberate naming Speda in one of her videos
although she quickly apologised for the “mistake.”
Hawdiyani, the KIU’s lawyer, said the singer’s
reference to Speda was insulting because of the
station’s Muslim values. The head of the station,
Bukhari Jamil, finally agreed to withdraw the
lawsuit after initially insisting that the apology
was not sufficient.
Many journalists and media in Iraqi Kurdistan say
they are increasingly concerned about the KIU’s
restrictive view of press freedom. “They tend to
imitate the KDP,” one said ironically.
Darbaz Younis, the editor of Bas’ arts section, told
Reporters Without Borders he had received death
threats for criticizing two of the presenters on
pro-KDP Channel 4 television, one of whom, Avin Aso,
is also the station’s director general. “A group of
individuals armed with knives came with the
intention of attacking me,” he said. “They
threatened me but fortunately I was not alone and
they did not dare carry out their threat.” Younis
filed a complaint on 13 December.
Bureau Afrique du Nord & Moyen-Orient / North Africa
& Middle-East Desk
Reporters sans frontičres / Reporters Without
Borders
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F - 75002 Paris
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Fax : +33 1 45 23 11 51
E-mail : moyen-orient@rsf.org / middle-east@rsf.org
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