Iraq

The released Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at former US President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was tortured during the first days of being in custody. "I have been tortured by electric shocks, beatings and whipped by cords," Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who was freed earlier in the day after nine months of imprisonment, told in the news conference at the TV station where he works in Baghdad's...

The US is still refusing to release Reuters photographer Ibrahim Jassam, who has begun his second year of detention by the US military in Iraq although he has never been formally charged. Jassam is currently the only journalist held in Iraq by the US forces. Jassam was arrested by US and Iraqi soldiers in the south Baghdad district of Mahmoudiyah on September 1, 2008. The Iraqi central criminal...

Iraqi authorities prevented the news media from covering bombings in Baghdad and the southern province of Babil on last week, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “We wonder why the Iraqi authorities forbade journalists to approach the scenes of the bombings and interview victims,” RSF said. “Was it to reduce the broadcasting of shocking images? Was it to conceal successful terrorist...

Scores of Iraqi journalists and political figures rallied Friday to protest what they say is a political effort to censor media that follows steps to crack down on Internet sites, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The demonstration on a Baghdad street known for its book market was held under tight security, as anger builds over government initiatives that critics say are aimed at preventing a...

A member of extremist Sunni group Jaish Mohammed group has confessed to the 2006 rape and murder of prominent Iraqi TV reporter Atwar Bahjat. The confession was made in a videotape broadcast at a press conference Tuesday. Suspect Yasser al-Takhi described how he and three others abducted and killed Bahjat and her two-man crew, Adnan Abdullah and Khaled Mohsen, in the central Iraqi town of Samarra...

There have been two incidents since the start of the withdrawal of US forces from the main Iraqi cities two weeks ago that could indicate a worsening in the environment for the Iraqi media. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) fears a resurgence of threats and violence against journalists not only by armed groups, but also the police and other law enforcement personnel. "Iraqi security...

Al-Jazeera journalist Sami al-Haj, who was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay, plans to launch a joint legal action with other detainees against former US president George W Bush and other administration officials, for the illegal detention and torture he and others suffered at the hands of US authorities, the Guardian has reported. The case will be initiated by the Guantánamo Justice Centre, a new...

As the US troops begin their withdrawal from Iraqi cities today, many questions remain about the persons still detained by the US forces. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reiterated its call for the release of Reuters photographer Ibrahim Jassam, who has been held since last September. “The US armed forces are now withdrawing from the main Iraqi cities after six years of occupation,” Paris...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the decision of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to withdraw legal action against a website after an IFJ call for restraint by Iraq's political leaders in their dealings with media. At a historic meeting of journalists' leaders from 30 countries in Baghdad ten days ago IFJ had called for more professionalism from Iraqi media...

An Iraqi sports reporter, Alaa Abdel Wahab, was killed in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday by a car bomb that injured another journalist. Two journalists employed by Al-Iraqiya TV were also injured in a separate car bombing in Baghdad, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “We are saddened and appalled by these two bombings,” RSF said. “It is time the slaughter of...