Attacks on Iraqi Media Call Press Freedom Into Question
Following attacks on the offices of three different Iraqi newspapers on April 1, press freedom in Iraq is once again called into question, writes Mushreq Abbas.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi media experienced two consecutive shocks that not only revealed how vulnerable the security situation is in a city like Baghdad, but also shed light on the plight of Iraqi journalists, who have been treading through a minefield for ten years.
At first, many thought that it was big April Fool’s joke. Journalists repeated reports on Facebook and Twitter that an armed group had stormed the newspapers’ offices and attacked journalists with various types of weapons.
The news circulating has been confusing: “An unidentified armed group barged into the buildings of the Iraqi dailies al-Mustaqbal, al-Nas and The Parliament, attacked their crew with knives and batons and threatened to break into other newspaper buildings.”
Colleagues began to contact each other, and it soon emerged that these armed groups are affiliated with the Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, whose followers oppose the "false" information published in these dailies about their spiritual leader.
