Third World Media Journal, A Quarterly Publication of TWMN

MEDIA NEWS

  Police Release Reporter in Najaf, But Threaten Others
  Niger Radio Journalist Released
  Foreign Journalist Kidnapped
  Press Defies Iraqi Directive to Quit Najaf
  Iran's TV journalist arrested while reporting live from Najaf
  IFJ Calls for Release of IRNA Reporters Held in Baghdad

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Police Release Reporter in Najaf, But Threaten Others

BAGHDAD, Aug 17 - Iraqi police released an Arab journalist they arrested on Monday in the holy city of Najaf, where they also threatened to kill other foreign reporters if they left a hotel where many are staying, witnesses said.
Dubai-based Al Arabiya television said police had released its correspondent Ahmed al-Saleh, who along with many other reporters has been covering fighting between US forces and Shi'ite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Al Sadr.
Witnesses said police who came to the hotel threatened the reporters.
"We will kill you if you leave the hotel. I will put four snipers on the roof to shoot anyone who leaves," a police lieutenant said.
Police then fired into the air and pointed their guns at the hotel, witnesses said.
On Sunday, Najaf's police chief told local and foreign media to leave the city but government officials in Baghdad denied there would be a crackdown on the media covering the 12-day uprising.
Najaf police chief Ghalib al-Jezairy told foreign and Iraqi reporters at a hastily called late evening news conference that they were not under threat but added that an order calling on journalists to leave the city was still technically in place.
The media were intervening and bringing more support to this militia and encouraging them to keep fighting, and giving a false image that shows these criminals as heroes and nation builders, he said. Journal Desk

Niger Radio Journalist Released

NIAMEY, Aug 16 - The correspondent for Radio France Internationale in Niger, arrested after interviewing a suspected rebel, was released on Monday by the prosecutor's office in the capital Niamey.
Moussa Kaka, who is also head of private radio station Saraounia, was freed because he had not been given access to a lawyer after 24 hours in detention, in line with the West African country's legal code, his lawyer Moussa Coulibaly said.
Kaka was taken in for questioning after broadcasting a telephone interview with a man, presented as a member of the revived Tuareg rebel group the Liberation Front of Air and Azawad, who claimed responsibility for a recent attack.
The rebel group was disbanded after a peace deal between the government and the turban-clad Tuareg of the north, who were fighting for greater autonomy from central government.
But a group of Tuareg said in June they had recreated the FLAA, pledging loyalty to a former rebel leader who was sacked as tourism minister earlier this year and arrested for aiding and abetting murder.
The government has repeatedly denied that there is a new rebellion and has blamed a spate of attacks on armed bandits.
Unidentified armed men attacked another bus on Sunday, killing one person and seriously injuring four, some 200 km (120 miles) from the capital in the southeast of the former French colony, according to police and relatives of the injured. Journal Desk

Foreign Journalist Kidnapped

BAGHDAD, Aug 16 - A Western journalist and his Iraqi translator were kidnapped by two armed men in a busy market in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, police said.
According to witnesses in the market, the journalist, identified as Micah Garen, and the translator, Amir Doushi, were walking when two men in civilian clothes and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles seized them, Aboud said.
Adnan Al Shoraify, deputy governor of Dhi Qar province, said the incident occurred on Friday. Al Shoraify said Garen was a journalist with US-French citizenship who worked for the US-based Four Corners Media and was working on a project involving antiquities near Nasiriyah. Journal Desk

Press Defies Iraqi Directive to Quit Najaf

BAGHDAD, Aug 16 - Newspapers today vowed to resist calls from the Iraqi government for their journalists to leave Najaf, the city at the centre of fighting between US and Iraqi forces and militants loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr.
Most of the newspapers with correspondents in Najaf said they were concerned for the safety of staff there but would resist calls from the Iraqi police to leave the city, relying on the judgment of their reporters on the ground to determine the risks.
The Daily Telegraph foreign editor, Alan Philps, said that Adrian Blomfield, the paper's correspondent in Najaf who today reported that shots were fired overnight at the hotel where foreign journalists were staying, would remain in the city.
"We took the view that we didn't want to be told what to do by the police. We're keeping the situation under constant review," he said.
The Times also confirmed that its correspondent, Stephen Farrell, was staying in Najaf.
Najaf's police chief, Ghalab Jazaree, yesterday told reporters they had two hours to get out of the city and return to Baghdad. But Iraqi officials insisted they were not trying to gag reporters, but only to protect them.
The police chief said he would not be able to arrest foreign journalists but would give orders for their translators and drivers to be arrested.
The issue of journalists' safety was dramatically highlighted on Friday when militants in the southern city of Basra kidnapped Sunday Telegraph journalist James Brandon and threatened to kill him.
He escaped but was recaptured. The 23-year-old was eventually released after aides to militant Shia cleric al-Sadr demanded he be freed. Journal Desk

Iran's TV journalist arrested while reporting live from Najaf

TEHRAN, Aug 15 – An Iraqi journalist of Iranian state broadcaster's Arabic service was detained while reporting live on television Sunday as police brandishing rifles threatened to arrest media people unless they leave Iraq's troubled town of Najaf, according to reports by agencies.
Mohammad Kazem, the Iraqi correspondent of Iran's Al-Alam channel, was arrested by Iraqi police during the live interview from a Najaf rooftop.
A group of policemen armed with rifles and pistols also went to a hotel where foreign and Iraqi reporters were staying and told them to leave the city.
At least 20 journalists had travelled to the southern Iraqi town, where Shiite militiamen fought fierce battles with US and Iraqi forces, after the collapse of peace talks aimed at ending fighting that has killed hundreds.
Najaf police chief General Ghaleb al-Jazairi at a press conference Sunday morning gave all journalists two hours to leave ahead of a renewed assault on militia positions in the city centre following the breakdown of truce talks the previous day.
Iraqi journalists argued with the police, but the police appeared determined to make sure that they leave.
It is not the first time that Al-Alam has fallen foul of the Iraqi authorities.
Officials of the U.S.-backed interim government have repeatedly taken issue with the Iranian television's coverage, along with that of the Persian Gulf-based satellite channels Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. Journal Desk

IFJ Calls for Release of IRNA Reporters Held in Baghdad

BRUSSELS, Aug 14 - International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of journalists arrested by police after raiding the Baghdad bureau of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) earlier this week.
"We are pleased that James Brandon has been promptly released," Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary, said in a statement Saturday. "But we still await news about the arrest and detention of colleagues working for the Iranian news agency," he added.
British journalist James Brandon who was snatched from his hotel by gunmen in the southern city of Basra was released on Friday.
At least three reporters working for IRNA news agency were arrested by Baghdad police, earlier this week according to one of the agency's senior editors, said an IFJ press release.
"Iranian journalists have run into trouble with the authorities in Iraq before. Iraq's defence minister has recently upped anti-Iranian rhetoric, accusing Tehran of sending spies and arms across the border to foment unrest," it said.
IRNA says the agency lost contact with its Baghdad bureau on Monday afternoon.
"We are concerned that there are political motives behind this incident," said White. "The Iraqi authorities must explain why these men were taken and unless there are good reasons, they must be released immediately."
Among those reportedly detained after the police raid were the bureau chief Mostafa Darban, Mohammad Khafaji and Mohsen Madani.
The IFJ says that with more than 40 media deaths since last year's invasion, Iraq is already the world's most dangerous place for journalists.
A few days ago the Federation protested over an official ban imposed on the Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera.
About 20 foreigners are currently being held and at least eight hostages have been executed. The IFJ is calling on all journalists in Iraq to tighten up their security.
The Brussels-based IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries. Journal Desk

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