1/4/2021
Al-Sharqiya TV crew was severely beaten while performing their duties in Parliament, Wednesday, and their equipment was destroyed.
Correspondent Mohammed Saad told the Press Freedom Advocacy Association that he was on a private coverage yesterday with his colleague, photographer Ahmed Labib, to transmit the direct vote on the budget law from inside the Council of Representatives building. He was surprised that a security officer in the council had severely beaten the staff, adding that the officer, along with other security personnel, had also broken their photographic equipment.
Saad said that he submitted a complaint to the Presidency of Parliament against the security officer who attacked them, but no action has been taken until this moment.
While the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq expresses its great solidarity with the channel’s staff, it considers what they were exposed to as a clear violation of the freedom of journalistic and media work that is constitutionally guaranteed.
The Association also calls for the Presidency of the Council of Representatives, and the Media Department to hold the aggressor elements accountable and expel them outside the Parliament. Otherwise, the Association considers any procrastination as participation in violating the Constitution.
Furthermore, the association renews its request to the highest official authorities to stop attacking journalists, and to observe the principles of the constitution that guaranteed freedom of journalistic work.
