CPJ Sends Letter to New Iraqi Leader About 'Disturbing' Restrictions on Press

By: E&P Staff The Committee to Project Journalists sent what it calls a "protest letter" on Tuesday to the new Iraqi prime minister, Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, care of his country's embassy in Washington, D.C.

"We are writing to express our concern about a disturbing pattern of restrictions on the press in Iraq, and to urge your new government to take swift action to ensure the ability of journalists to carry out their work without official interference," explains Ann Cooper, the New York-based group's executive director.

Excerpts from the text follows.
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Iraq?s media have made important gains over the last three years. Dozens of independent and partisan publications as well as broadcasters have emerged, ending decades of Iraqi state control and repression of the media. As a result, Iraqis today enjoy access to a variety of sources for news and information.

Generalized violence, including targeted attacks by insurgent groups, pose the primary threat to journalism in Iraq, and 100 journalists and media support staff have been killed in the past three years. However, press freedoms have also been undermined by acts of censorship, criminal prosecutions of journalists, intimidation, and physical threats against the media by Iraqi officials.

In the last year, CPJ has documented a series of disturbing incidents in which Iraqi journalists were criminally prosecuted or imprisoned for their work under restrictive laws, some dating back to the former government....

Iraqi governing authorities and security forces have impeded the work of journalists and news organizations in other ways. Over the past two years, CPJ has documented numerous cases of journalists who have been threatened, detained, or had their equipment confiscated by Iraqi police or armed forces. Others have had shots fired at them and at least one journalist, Kamal Manahi Anbar, was killed by Iraqi forces? fire earlier this year.

Iraqi governing authorities also continue to keep in place a ban on the Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera, whose Iraq offices were shut down in July 2004 for alleged incitement to violence and hatred. Iraqi officials alleged that Al-Jazeera?s reporting on kidnappings had encouraged Iraqi militants, and a government statement on the ban accused Al-Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for terrorist groups and contributing to instability in Iraq.

While most of the attacks against journalists have been perpetrated by local and regional officials, under the Iraqi constitution the federal government is responsible for upholding freedom of the press and must ensure that basic rights and freedoms are protected.

These cases of official harassment undermine the public commitments of Iraqi officials to democracy and a free press. Journalists should never face criminal prosecution or arrest and imprisonment for their work. Moreover, the banning of news organizations and police harassment of working journalists is the kind of behavior associated with autocratic governments in the region, not an aspiring democracy. The Committee to Protect Journalists urges your government to adopt the following recommendations aimed at bringing Iraq?s practices into line with international standards for a free press:

--Immediate steps to cease all criminal prosecutions and the jailing of journalists because of their professional work; ensure that pending prosecutions or convictions are dismissed.

--Initiate legal reforms at both the regional and federal levels to abolish or amend laws--including criminal laws and laws the enable the jailing of journalists?that restrict the press in violation of international norms for press freedom.

--In coordination with regional authorities, ensure that acts of harassment and intimidation of the press by Iraqi police and security forces are halted.

--Lift the ban on Al-Jazeera, and allow all media to report from Iraq without government interference.

We are alarmed by the cases of imprisonment, intimidation, and censorship of journalists at the hands of Iraqi officials, which we have documented. We call on you and your government to implement our recommendations, and ensure that press freedom is respected throughout Iraq.

We thank you for your attention to this extremely urgent matter. We await your response.