Alalam Aljadid E-journal has undergone pressure and threats of being blocked subjected by the Head of Media and Communications Commission, on the background of publishing a report last Friday; a report that revealed a number of issues related to the unprofessional stance of the commission by changing wave bands of some radio stations and local satellite channels, in addition to the corruption related to the G4 service that was awarded to a gulf company where the commission’s senior officials hold shares in.
Colleagues in Alalam Aljadid told Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq that they received threat calls that would place the journal on the fringe of blockage if the report was not deleted from the site. The commission went further by threatening to place all staff names on the blacklist of the National Security and sue those involved.
The report included a statement quoted by a member of Aldaawa party that accuses Safaauldin Rabii of corruption and that PM Dr. Hayder Alibadi couldn’t relieve him from post due to his strongly supported post by an eminent VIP in the party, Tariq Najim. The report also mentioned the uneasy attitude of PM towards Rabii’s functioning. The attitude accumulated as a result of not responding to the official letters of the Ministry of Communications and obscuring precise data that clarifies the resources harvested from mobile companies in Iraq.
Alalam Aljadid media workers confirmed that a flood of threats was washing the E-journal and that reflects on the capacity of full exploitation of senior posts and the intention to dismiss the entire team from public service.
At the time that Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq expresses its grave concern and criticism towards this unacceptable action taken and led by the Head of Media and Communications Commission, Safaauldin Rabii, and all powerful posts that support him, it holds them full responsibility of any damage that may affect the site or its workers and calls on the Federal Government to hold Rabii accountable for violating the constitution and obscuring facts that confirm his corruption.
The Association demands that Iraqi Parliament includes concerned organizations to discuss the bill submitted on Media and Communications Commission Law, and calls to include terms that limit the authorities of the commission’s officials; the Commission should hold no watchdog right upon any media body in Iraq and to have no right in exercising blockade or shutting down any media institutions. It is worth mentioning that the Association pursues to activate the issue and preserves its right to sue the Head of the Commission for his grave violations and damaging attitude against the press community.