Court throws out sports ministry’s libel suit

Reporters Without Borders hails a decision by a special Baghdad court for publication and communication offences to reject the libel action that the ministry of youth and sports brought against the independent daily Al-Aalem and its editor Ziyad Al Ajili. The ministry had sued Ajili, who also heads the Journalistic Freedom Observatory, a Reporters Without Borders partner organisation, for 1 billion Iraqi dinars (615,530 euros) in damages under article 111 of the criminal code over a July report about problems with an Olympic city built in the southern city of Basra. In a ruling issued on 31 October, the court said the article did not defame the ministry and satisfied the right to information about a subject of general interest. The article quoted a report by engineers claiming that there were serious problems with the construction that posed a potential threat to human lives and blaming corruption involving the ministry. ------ 20.10.2010 - Libel suit against head of partner organisation who wrote about sports complex irregularities Reporters Without Borders voices its full support for Ziyad Al-Ajily, a reporter and head of the Journalistic Freedom Observatory (JFO), who is due to appear in court on a libel charge tomorrow in connection with an article he wrote for the newspaper Al-Aalem in July about problems with a major sports complex being built in the southern city of Basra. An NGO that defends media freedom, the JFO is the Reporters Without Borders partner organisation in Iraq. In an action brought under article 111 of the criminal code on 26 September, the ministry of youth and sports is suing for Ajily and the newspaper’s publisher for 1 billion Iraqi dinars (615,530 euros) in damages. They are being tried before a special court for publication and communication offences. Headlined “Call for responsibility,” the article quoted a report by engineers as saying “the buildings envisaged and the material utilised do not correspond” to what was initially envisaged and that the “execution of the project without a detailed second survey could lead to a catastrophe.” Initiated by the ministry of youth and sports, the project’s original budget was 500 million dollars. Reporters Without Borders calls on the ministry of youth and sports to withdraw its lawsuit. The amount of damages requested is so exorbitant it cannot be taken seriously. The judicial authorities should be examining the problems exposed in the article rather that hearing an absurd complaint by a ministry that clearly cannot tolerate media investigation of its activities. Read the JFO article in Arabic: http://www.jfoiraq.org/newsdetails.aspx?back=1&id=733&page=0