UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
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inside the media compound, refrain from telling their families about their work and insist<br />
that they are not credited by name in news reports. 596<br />
Fear of attacks undermines freedom of speech in Iraq as journalists carefully weigh what<br />
they write and often apply self-censorship. 597 In addition, journalists and publications also<br />
face legal prosecution by the authorities for “defaming” government officials. According to<br />
information from the New York Times, around a dozen Iraqi journalists have been charged<br />
with offending government officials. 598<br />
A number of media outlets have been closed for “inciting violence”, including Al-Arabiya,<br />
a Dubai-based satellite news channel, which was banned for one month in early<br />
September. 599 Aljazeera was initially closed for one month in August 2004, but was finally<br />
banned from Iraq in September 2004. 600 The Baghdad studios of privately-owned satellite<br />
TV Al-Charkiya, which was accused of “inciting sectarian violence” for showing footage<br />
of Iraqis mourning the death of former President Saddam Hussein, were closed on<br />
1 January 2007. 601 Based on the 2004 Law of Safeguarding National Security, 602 the Iraqi<br />
authorities ordered the closure, on 5 November 2006, of Sunni TV stations Al-Zawra and<br />
Salah-Eddin for showing footage of demonstrators brandishing pictures of the former<br />
president and protesting his death sentence. Both stations were accused of inciting sectarian<br />
violence and have not been allowed to resume broadcasting. UNAMI HRO reported that<br />
a former reporter for Al-Zawra TV station, who lived in Baghdad’s Al-Zaafaraniya District,<br />
received a threatening letter on 25 November 2006. Reportedly, on 1 December 2006,<br />
gunmen came looking for her, but she had already moved out to another area. 603 The Iraqi<br />
596 Ibid. See also: Paul von Zielbauer, Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to List of Dangers, The New York Times,<br />
29 November 2006, http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/29/africa/web.0926journo.php; IRIN, Iraq: Fighting<br />
swords with pens, see above footnote 582; Al-Atraqchi, see above footnote 582.<br />
597 See, for example, Reuters, Third Reuters Iraq Journalist Freed by US troops, 17 February 2007,<br />
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=27915; UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights<br />
Report, p. 11, see above footnote 66; IFJ, IFJ Calls for Release of Journalist Held in Iraq for More Than Six<br />
Months, 6 November 2006, http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?index=4353&Language=EN; Von Zielbauer, ibid.<br />
598 Von Zielbauer, Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to List of Dangers, see above footnote 596. See also UNAMI<br />
HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 11, see above footnote 66. DPA reported in November 2006<br />
that Mosul’s local council issued an order to close down a publication called “Civil Society” because it<br />
published a cartoon depicting Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki sitting on the lap of US Secretary of State<br />
Condoleezza Rice and being breastfed by her. However, Mosul’s court refused to carry out the order, stating<br />
that this would stifle freedom of expression; see: IRIN, MIDDLE EAST: Weekly update of human rights<br />
violations in the region (10 Nov – 16 Nov 2006), Iraq: Three more Iraqi journalists gunned down,<br />
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=61945. The Governor of Basrah warned journalists from giving<br />
a “false message to the media regarding the security situation in Basra”, threatening that they would be sued<br />
in court if they did so; see UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 10-11, see above footnote<br />
66; UNAMI HRO, August 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 8, see above footnote 26.<br />
599 BBC News, Al-Arabiya ordered out of Baghdad, 8 September 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/<br />
middle_east/5325290.stm.<br />
600 Ibidem, Iraq extends ban on al-Jazeera TV, 4 September 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_<br />
east/3628398.stm.<br />
601 RSF, TV studio shut down for “incitement to violence” after showing footage of Saddam mourners,<br />
2 January 2007, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20296.<br />
602 See “National Security”.<br />
603 UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 11, see above footnote 10.<br />
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