Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009middle east and north africa: iraqplayed the dominant role in covering developments in 2009; only the largestWestern news outlets continued to maintain bureaus or a full-time presencein the nation.But improvements in security were a matter of degree as deadly violencecontinued to strike in Baghdad, Mosul, and other cities. Devastating insurgentbombings in August, October, and December targeted the heart of the Iraqigovernment—including the ministries of finance and foreign affairs—and lefthundreds dead. The bombings, reminders of the fragility of the security situation,caused some late-year re-examination among journalists. “For about a yearpeople had been on the assumption that things were getting quieter; thereforejournalists were moving more and more freely,” Lawrence said. “But since thebombings in August, people are reassessing how safe things are.”As was the case in 2008, all of the journalists killed in 2009 were Iraqis.All four were killed in areas where tensions remained high between sectariangroups. Haidar Hashim Suhail, a correspondent for the Iraqi-owned, CairobasedAl-Baghdadia satellite television network, and cameraman Suhaib Adnanwere among more than 30 people killed in a suicide bombing on March10 in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad in Anbar province. Four other journalistswere injured in the attack. The journalists had accompanied Brig. Gen. MardAbdul Hassan, a high-ranking Ministry of Interior official, to a tribal reconciliationgathering. The bomber detonated the explosive when the official wasmeeting with residents on a busy street, journalists told CPJ. Abdul Hassansurvived.On May 31, Alaa Abdel-Wahab, a sports reporter for Al-Baghdadia, waskilled in Mosul when a bomb attached to his car exploded, according to CPJsources. Sultan Jerjis, a sports journalist with Al-Rasheed radio, was injuredin the attack. In a similar but unrelated attack the same day, two staffers of thestate-run Al-Iraqiya satellite channel were injured when a bomb attached totheir car exploded in the Al-Azamiya neighborhood in Baghdad, according tolocal press reports.In October, Orhan Hijran, a cameraman with Al-Rasheed television, waskilled when a bomb exploded in front of his house in the Al-Khadhrah neighborhoodof southwestern Kirkuk, Bureau Chief Jawdat Assaf told CPJ. Roadsidebombs often struck the southwestern area of Kirkuk, which was frequently traveledby the U.S. military, local journalists told CPJ. Assaf said the area whereHijran was killed included a police checkpoint and had been the target of morethan a dozen roadside bombs. Kirkuk, at the center of oil production in northernIraq, is home to a mixed population of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and Assyrians,and remained a flashpoint for violence.Iraqi authorities failed to address impunity in journalist murders, one of themany brutal legacies of the conflict. Of the 140 journalists killed in Iraq since2003, at least 89 were targeted for murder. By year’s end, Iraqi authorities hadyet to bring a single killer to justice in any of those murders. Iraq ranked firstworldwide on CPJ’s Impunity Index, which calculates the number of unsolvedjournalist murders as a percentage of the nation’s population.For many journalists, government harassment, assaults, and legal action supplanteddeadly insurgent violence as the most frequent work-related risk. “Officialsdon’t want journalists to write about things such as security issues, violationsof human rights, lack of basic services, and corruption,” JFO director al-Ajilisaid. “They are imposing restrictions on journalists—and the direction they aretaking is more toward authoritarianism.”Numerous journalists were harassed or assaulted by police during provincialelections in late January, according to local and international news reports. InBasra, guards at a correctional facility assaulted about 15 reporters and brokeequipment when voting started, local and international news agencies reported.The guards claimed that photographers had taken pictures of inmates’ faces, accordingto news reports.Iraqi officials also brought legal action against domestic and internationaljournalists. In February, a lawyer for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki filed a lawsuitagainst Ayad al-Zamli, owner of the German-based Arabic Web site Kitabat,and a writer who had written under the pseudonym of Ali Hussein, in connectionwith an article describing alleged nepotism in the prime minister’s office.The lawsuit demanded 1 billion dinars (US$865,380) in damages, according toa copy of the complaint. After local and international outcry, al-Maliki withdrewthe lawsuit in May.That same month, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) filed a defamationcomplaint against the London-based Guardian newspaper for an articlein which sources characterized the prime minister as “increasingly autocratic,” thepaper reported. In November, in a move that drew condemnation from domesticand international observers, a Baghdad court ordered the paper to pay 100 milliondinars (US$86,000) in damages. The paper said it would appeal.One piece of legislation, while ostensibly benefitting journalists, also raisedquestions. A journalist protection measure—written in conjunction with theIraqi Journalists’ Syndicate and pending in late year—was designed to aid thepress by providing compensation for injured journalists, ensuring security forthose under threat, and ensuring the right to obtain government information.But local and international press freedom advocates expressed concerns aboutseveral provisions in the draft. One article, for example, narrowly defined a journalistas someone who both works for an established news outlet and is affiliatedwith the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate. The provision was seen by some as imposing218219