Kurdistan???s press pays for tackling corruption
By Anna Fifield in Suleimaniya
Published: October 3 2008 17:48
For three nights out of every 14, Ahmed Mira does not sleep at home. He no longer walks on the street either, nor does he drive his own car anywher
Such is the life of an independent magazine editor in Kurdistan, the northern Iraqi province where journalists say they are coming under increasing pressure not to write about government corruption.
Iraq???s biggest bank reaches telling milestone - May-18Oil groups to end 40-year exile from Iraq - May-06Baghdad bombs leave 51 dead - Apr-30Investors eye opportunity in Iraq - Apr-28Small US loans are catalyst for Iraqi business - Apr-07Baghdad bombings shatter normality - Apr-06???We are proud of not having red lines, of crossing the boundaries and touching the most sensitive issues,??? says Mr Mira, editor of Lvin (???Movement???), a fortnightly magazine that has homed in on corrupt officials.
American officials in Iraq are concerned about recent attempts to clamp down on the Kurdish press.
???There have been a number of instances in the past six months in which reporters have been harassed, detained, pressurised not to write about corruption,??? says a senior US official in Baghdad. ???Sometimes we really question the [regional government???s] commitment to a truly democratic Kurdistan.???
The government denies suggestions it is corrupt or undemocratic, and the president???s office refutes claims it is putting pressure on any media outlets.
???There is no official pressure,??? says Fuad Hussein, the president???s chief of staff. ???The president told the editors that it???s their right to publish about corruption but that when they accuse someone they should have proof.
???They should not make black into white,??? Mr Hussein told the Financial Times. This was advice not pressure, he added.
Regardless, Judit Neurink, a Dutch journalist who runs the Independent Media Centre in Suleimaniya, training Kurdish journalists, says the non-state press is certainly ???stirring things up???
???Independent media are necessary in this country to open up a few more eyes to what is really happening,??? Ms Neurink says, although she sometimes has difficulty convincing reporters of the difference between ???freedom of the press??? and fiction.
Mr Mira, for one, says he will not waver. ???Yes, of course it is very difficult,??? he shrugs, ???but we must not bow to the pressure from the government.???
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9638d89e-9167-11dd-b5cd-0000779fd18c.html
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But neither party tolerates criticism especially well. Local journalists tell of beatings, death threats, even charges of treason. Dissidents are subject to far rougher treatment. "There have been widespread and credible allegations of torture and people being detained for years without a hint of due process," says Joseph Logan of Human Rights Watch. The U.S. State Department's latest Human Rights Report describes abusive practices in the regional government's jails, including electric shocks, beatings and "suspensions in stress positions."
Masrour Barzani says he's doing his best as intelligence and security chief to correct any problems in his jails. The idea, he says, is to build "a more world-standard institution that would be strong enough both to withstand challenges and at the same time be very modern and civilized in terms of protection of citizens and in terms of conduct of duty." Logan credits Masrour Barzani with giving good access to Human Rights Watch investigators, but he adds: "There's well-documented harassment of journalists who have expressed views critical of the political leadership. If the response to pointed criticism is to go after the critics … then you can say that experiment [with openness] has not come to fruition."
Kurds hate seeing their political system falling behind that of other Iraqis. Across Iraq a January vote for provincial councils was an impressive show of wide-open democracy, in which several incumbents were tossed out of office. By contrast, the Kurds have yet to hold their own provincial elections, and the PUK and KDP have signaled their intent to field a joint "closed" list. Instead of offering a real choice, ballots will present a slate of candidates drawn from both dominant parties.
Officials from those parties insist their leaders are receptive to opposing views. "Jalal Talabani has been more willing than many others to listen and change," says a senior PUK official. The party has promised it will work toward more transparency and less control. A KDP Central Committee member says his party is also working toward opening up: "Massoud Barzani wants to be seen more as the president of Kurdistan than as carrying on the party agenda," he says. Peter Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia and a longtime supporter of Kurdistan, argues that conditions are improving there. "I think there has been a lot of progress," he says, although he concedes: "Periodically, there are things that one doesn't like to see." A Western defender of the Kurds, asking not to be named on such a sensitive topic, says Kurdistan's people have their own priorities. "The national issue is so important to Kurds that other issues, like democratization, take a back seat," he says.
Not all Kurds agree—and they say the parties need to start cleaning up fast. "You simply cannot go on justifying your rule based on what you did 20 years ago," says the senior Kurdish official. "We can either be a party of the past and end up like Fatah in Palestine, or regenerate ourselves like the Labour Party in the U.K." The time to decide is running out.
With Ferhad Murasil
© 2009
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