05-03-06,9:33am

BAGHDAD, 3 May 2006 (IRIN) - The new government should “reaffirm its commitment to protect the right of journalists to go about their work, free from intimidation and threats,” said UN Special Representative for Iraq Ashraf Qazi on Wednesday, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.

Qazi, who called Iraq “a very risky environment for journalists”, expressed his support for the Iraqi media “as it perseveres in conducting its work professionally, despite innumerable odds and continuing violence”. He also called on the new government to assist the independent media sector “in its struggle for the right to seek, receive and impart information in a responsible manner”.

His sentiments were echoed by local journalists. “We call for the protection of journalists and a better understanding of what it is we do,” said Khalid Samim, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Journalists Association (IJA). Jua'ad Baker, a local news reporter working in Baghdad, said: “We see our colleagues being killed and so we’re urging the government to take measures to end the suppression of free expression.”

According to IJA figures, some 112 people working for local and international media organisations have been killed in Iraq – either by insurgents or by US-led forces – since March 2003. In 2005 alone, 35 media workers have been killed, say officials at the journalists’ association.

Samim lamented that Iraqis had little to celebrate on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, since the country had become “the most dangerous place for the press in the world”. “This is a day when journalists should celebrate their freedom,” he said. “But in Iraq, we’ll spend it remembering our fallen colleagues, who were killed for telling the truth.”

As an example of press suppression, local journalists point to the recent jailing of journalists in the northern Kurdish region. There on 1 May, a court jailed two newspaper editors who recently published stories critical of the regional government in local newspapers. “If you expose your true opinions about the government, you know something will happen to you,” said Samim. “They have the power – and aren’t happy when someone speaks the truth about them.”