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BAGHDAD – An Iraqi court has fined a television channel $87,000 after ruling that it slandered a military official by misquoting him, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The Iraqi military filed a lawsuit in April seeking to shut down the Iraq operations of Al-Hayat, a major London-based Arabic language newspaper, and Al-Sharqiya television station, for falsely reporting that orders had been issued to arrest ex-detainees recently released by the United States.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the main military spokesman in Baghdad, insisted he said only that ex-detainee files would be reviewed to determine if any of them were involved in a recent uptick in bombings.
Al-Hayat issued a correction on its Web site saying its information did not come from al-Moussawi but another unidentified official. Al-Sharqiya, which quoted the newspaper report, said the military complaint "is not worthy of a response."
The Baghdad court fined Al-Sharqiya 100 million dinars ($87,000) for slander against al-Moussawi, according to judicial spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar.
The Dubai-based Iraqi channel is known for its harsh criticism of the Iraqi government and security forces. Officials with the station refused to comment on the court verdict.
The decision comes amid fears of a worsening environment for media in Iraq despite U.S.-backed efforts to promote an independent press.
"We do respect the Iraqi judiciary system, but we do not like to see an Iraqi channel being fined for delivering news in a country that honors freedom of expression," said Hadi Chalou of the Baghdad-based independent Journalistic Freedom Observatory.
Iraq has been the most dangerous place in the world for journalists to work, with the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists saying 139 have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.