Al-Taghyir Channel staff detained in Dhi Qar

7/12/2020

A security force of Dhi Qar province intelligence detained a reporter and cameraman of Al-Taghyir Tv in the line of duty on Monday.

Fellow reporter Ihab Al-Khafaji told the Press Freedom Advocacy Association that he and his fellow photographer Saad al-Rikabi were in a press coverage near the amusement park in the center of Dhi Qar, and was surprised that a security force from the province’s intelligence came towards them and arrested them, took them to the police station and interrogated them.

Al-Khafaji said that although their identification cards had been presented, the force insisted on detaining and interrogating them for more than half an hour, before being released, after the intervention of media bodies and figures in Dhi Qar.

At the time that the Association wishes safety to the fellow journalists, it considers these incidents a dire violation of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of journalistic work and a mouth muzzling approach.

The association also calls on security leaders in Dhi Qar to stop detaining journalists simply for the sake of their journalistic duties and to observe laws that have provided the freedom to work unconditionally.