Heavy fine imposed on satellite TV station, target of past harassment

Reporters Without Borders is disturbed by the fine of 100 million dinars (87,000 euros) that an Iraqi court has reportedly imposed on the Dubai-based Arabic-language satellite TV station Al-Sharqiya as a result of a lawsuit by Maj. Gen. Qassem Atta Al-Moussawi, the Iraqi military’s Baghdad operations spokesman, accusing it of defamation and a “personal attack.” “This sentence is a slap in face for free expression in Iraq, coming just as Iraqis staged a street demonstration on 14 August to express their desire for fairer media legislation guaranteeing real press freedom and security for journalists,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Political pressure on the judicial system must stop,” the press freedom organisation added. “Iraq’s need for a new media law protecting the right to independent and critical reporting is more urgent than ever. Press offences must no longer be governed by the criminal code.” Gen. Moussawi sued Al-Sharqiya for 5 billion dinars (3 million euros) in damages in April because, like many other Arab news media, it quoted him as saying that Iraqis who had just been released by the US forces would be re-arrested and held in prisons under the control of the Iraqi authorities. Al-Sharqiya’s source was a report to this effect in the newspaper Al-Hayat. Moussawi, who denies ever saying this, welcomed the news of the court’s sentence on 13 August although the fine was less than what he had asked for. Al-Sharqiya owner Ali Wajih told Reporters Without Borders: “This sentence is illegal. The station was never notified that a lawsuit had been brought against it so no lawyer was able to defend us. We learned about the sentence from the military spokesman himself and we still have not received any court order making us pay the fine. Wajih added: “All this is contrary to the Iraqi criminal code. This kind of trial normally takes a lot more time. I’m going to let the international media and public opinion decide for themselves how much pressure must have been applied to obtain this decision, which constitutes yet another violation of press freedom in Iraq.” Tariq Harb, a lawyer who heads the Iraqi Legal Culture Association, claimed that “the court’s decision to fine the TV station is not a final one and could be rescinded if the two parties reach an accord.” Al-Sharqiya began operating in Iraq in 2004 and was one of the first TV stations to analyse security strategy and to report the difficulties that the Iraqi security forces were encountering in dealing with insurgents. It also exposed the fact that the Iraqi army was not sharing all its information with the public. Although it broadcast official communiqués about anti-terrorist operations every day, it received repeated official warnings about its coverage and its Baghdad bureau was closed temporarily by the authorities several times before being closed for good in 2006. It still has a bureau in the Kurdish city of Erbil.