Why Did the Iraqi Authorities Unanimously Agree to Abuse Journalists?
Stopping a television program on the official Al-Iraqiya channel sheds light on press freedom in Iraq, which witnessed a decline in 2022 to 172nd place among 180 countries and regions, a difference of nine points from 2021.
Hours after a live broadcast of a television program presented by the journalist Saadoun Damad, on June 2, 2022, the Al-Iraqiya channel suspended the program. At the same time, an arrest warrant was issued against the guest, Iraqi writer Sarmad al-Taei, on charges of "offending important figures."
'New Dictatorship'
In the details of the episode that provoked the crisis, Sarmad al-Taei accused, during his talk about the current political crisis in the country, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faeq Zeidan, of "biasing" with Tehran's allies in Iraq.
Al-Taei said: “Zeidan's presence represents the emergence of a new dictatorship in the country; the Judicial Council must reconsider its positions, as things were better even during the time of the Nuri al-Maliki government.”
He stressed that “Faeq Zeidan cannot continue to play in danger, as he will face a historical, cultural and intellectual trial.”
Al-Taei added: “We stood in the face of Khamenei [Supreme Leader of Iran] and the murderer Soleimani [the former commander of the Iranian Quds Force] and they slaughtered us, but the honor of Iraq is greater than them, and now greater than Faeq Zeidan, who plays in the Federal Court and uses the judiciary to exercise an open political coup against the election results.”
After a campaign launched by loyalists of armed militias close to Iran, the Iraqi Media Network issued an apology on June 2, in which it said that al-Taei "profited from talking freely during the live broadcast program.
The statement added: "The Iraqi Media Network is not responsible for the guests' exploitation of freedom in the program, and it also reserves the legal right to sue anyone who takes advantage of this freedom by offending national symbols and constitutional institutions, especially the judiciary."
He stressed that "the network is not responsible for the opinions of its guests in the political programs, and it was keen throughout its coverage of various events in the country."
‘Opinion Suppression’
For his part, Iraqi journalist Uday al-Azzawi said in an interview with Al-Estiklal that "there is no freedom of opinion and expression or press freedom in Iraq, but all that is there is a set of texts on paper that were included in the country's new constitution that was approved in 2005, and not a single letter of them is applied."
He continued: "The journalist is now paying a tax for every information he provides to the Iraqi street about rampant corruption and violation of state sovereignty and human rights, and the control of militias loyal to Iran, as well as the influence of officials and their entourage in the institutions and the country in general."
Al-Azzawi explained that "the majority of political forces and officials are repressing journalists and activists because of any opinion that opposes them and criticizes issues that affect them, whether these forces are Shiite, Sunni or even Kurdish."
He pointed out that "the judiciary deals with duplicity, although it became angry after criticizing the head of the judiciary, but did nothing when a writer—working for the same channel—insulted Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on satellite channels, because he belongs to the forces of the Shiite coordination framework close to Iran."
He continued: "We also have officials who launch malicious lawsuits against any journalist or activist who criticizes them, especially the current parliament speaker, Muhammad al-Halbousi. He represses anyone who tries to criticize him, especially from the people of the Anbar province to which he belongs."
Al-Azzawi stated that "the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, has become uncritical in Iraq, not only from the media, but even from representatives and officials, and the same thing for the two Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan region [the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union]."
He pointed out that the media has become restricted in Iraq, where we saw what happened with the presenters of one of the Iraqi TV programs and the guest there, after he criticized the financial corruption rampant among senior officers in the Ministry of Defense, so the latter did not resort to following up on these cases, but rather issued an arrest warrant against the journalist and his guest, in addition to The Media and Communications Commission which has suspended the program.
Systematic Targeting
The Iraqi writer Iyad al-Dulaimi said in an article published by The New Arab outlet on June 7, that targeting the press and journalists in Iraq has turned into a systematic targeting led by the highest authority in the country, which is the judiciary authority, which seems to have become the actual front for the leadership of Iraq.
Al-Dulaimi considered that this "indicates an unprecedented catastrophic state of stereotyping the judiciary, and made it a locomotive to crush every dissenting opinion, instead of being the original protector of freedom of expression."
The writer went on to say: "The sky of Iraq is crying today over what was a dream embroidered in a crazy moment; the pens of journalists who once dreamed that their new Iraq would provide them with an open room, in which they could say what they believed to be right, without intimidation, gagging, or fear. The dream quickly dissipated, and freedom of expression now faces a future darker than being under the authority of parties and their militias.
Similarly, the Association for the Defense of Press Freedom in Iraq issued a statement on June 2, saying that "the Iraqi Media Network suspended Al-Muhayid [The Neutral] program due to political objections to the opinion of one of the program's guests regarding the Supreme Judicial Council."
The Association expressed its astonishment at a statement issued by the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faeq Zeidan, after describing the presenter of the program as a negative extremist, and his prejudgments about Damad, who is known for his professionalism and objectivity throughout his work as a program presenter for more than a decade.
The Association stated that "the media network funded by the people's money must represent all opinions, and host all people, whatever their opinion and convictions, because the Iraqi people have different directions and convictions, and guests cannot be identified in one color, based on political desires, in addition to the fact that hosting the program for any personality, no matter how controversial or opposing, the program will not be responsible for any opinions expressed by the guests, and this is one of the basics of satellite media.”
The Association condemned the decision to stop the Al-Muhayid program only for hosting a journalist writer who issued an opinion that was inconsistent with the convictions of the members of the Board of Trustees and the judiciary.
It considered this measure an indication of the narrowing of the space for freedom of expression and the press in Iraq, and a new setback in the history of the Iraqi media network, which is controlled by the power parties and whose struggles are reflected on fellow professionals working in the network from time to time.
Decline of Freedoms
On June 7, 2022, the Supreme Judicial Council confirmed: "An investigation into a case related to the deliberate insult to the judicial institution to weaken citizens' confidence in the judiciary, especially in the constitutional jurisdiction, with the aim of confusing the political scene outside the boundaries of freedom of expression and objective constructive criticism that Article 38 of the constitution guarantees.
In a statement, the center stated: "It was found from the results of those investigations that there is a network of self-described (media) which has special interests or (experts and legal scholars) who have personal disputes with the judiciary that has practiced spreading lies and deliberately distorting constitutional and legal concepts in the direction of uncertainty about what is issued by the judiciary by taking advantage of everyone's lack of understanding of the law through social media pages and YouTube channels.
The council claimed that "this network has links inside and outside Iraq, as well as some satellite channels affiliated with certain political parties that chose the path of insulting the judiciary as a reaction to some decisions that were issued against their interests."
He pointed out that "these illegal practices are part of the project of not recognizing the existing political system and moving international agendas, and as a result, decisions were issued to bring in those involved in this crime, which is punishable by the Penal Code."
In the Reporters Without Borders report on world press freedom, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2022, Iraq ranked 172nd out of 180 countries and regions annually, falling 9 points back, and Iraq was 163rd in the annual index of freedom of the press in 2021.
In another indicator, the annual report of the Association for the Defense of Press Freedom in Iraq monitored "a regression similar to what it recorded in 2021, in the number of violations affecting journalists and media workers, through daily monitoring of all violations."
During the period covered by the report, it monitored “280 cases of violations affecting both male and female journalists, including assassination attempts, storming and armed attacks, kidnapping, death threats, injuries during coverage, filing lawsuits according to laws formulated during the dictatorship era, arrest and detention, as well as for beatings, preventing and obstructing coverage, closing channels and laying off employees.
The report concluded that "the numbers recorded on World Press Freedom Day in 2022 are relatively higher than what was recorded during the same day in 2021, which confirms the indifference of government agencies to address the problems facing Iraqi journalists."
