Sport’s journalist Dhiyaa Hussein’s home was attacked by anonymous militants during his absence in Basra. Hussein told the Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq that the journalist’s family was inside the house that sustained material damages due to the attack.
The journalist said that he had been recently subjected to threats of being killed by one of staff members of al-Shurta sports club who is the personal bodyguard of the former club’s president, Riyadh Abdulabbas. No legal action was taken to face the incident especially that his existence in Baghdad is a duty obligation.
It is to be mentioned that Dhiyaa Hussein is a sports commentator who works for Iraqia sports channel. He also works for al-Malaab newspaper at The Olympic Committee and is recently the head of media at the Directorate of The Ministry of Education.
At the time that the Association expresses its deep concern about the incident; it calls the security forces to oblige to their duty and chase the raiders and expose the details of the attack that almost cost the journalist his family’s lives.
The Association stresses upon the danger that lies behind the unexplained silence of the Federal Government and that it represents a dire violation to any democratic legal bases that protect freedom of expression and keep any information inaccessible. This attitude of the government shows the desire of keeping all press personnel under continuous threat to undermine true democratic transformation.