Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: La nascente democrazia in Iraq continua a nascere

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070101/D8MCNASG0.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi government Monday ordered the closure of
the Baghdad office of a Dubai-based television station whose newscaster
wore black mourning clothes while reporting on the hanging of Hussein.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the Al-Sharqiya station,
owned by a former chief of radio and television for Saddam, had incited
violence and hatred in its coverage and had ignored warnings to stop.
Brigadier Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman, said the order was issued
after an allegedly false report by the news channel about the abduction
of three Sunni Arab female students from a university.
But the order also followed criticism of the tone of Al-Sharqiya's
coverage of Saturday's execution, which struck some as sympathetic to
the ousted dictator.
In contrast to state-run television reports that described Saddam as a
"tyrant" and "criminal," a newscaster on Al-Sharqiya - which means "The
Eastern One" - referred to him Sunday as "president."
Iraq's government is dominated by the country's Shiite Muslim majority.
Al-Sharqiya is sometimes mocked by critics as "Al-Baathiya" for its
alleged sympathies for Saddam's outlawed Baath Party, which had helped
Iraq's Sunni minority rule the country.
Shiite and Sunni are now locked in a sectarian war that has claimed
thousands of lives.
It's not clear how the closure might effect Al-Sharqiya, which
broadcasts to Iraq from Dubai by satellite.
Al-Sharqiya reported Monday night that its offices in Baghdad were
raided and sealed by Iraqi authorities. But the station said those
offices were vacated three months ago in response to attacks on staff.
Al-Sharqiya remained on the air Monday, broadcasting video of a protest
against Saddam's execution that was staged by the Professional
Associations - an umbrella group of unions representing doctors,
engineers and lawyers - at the group's offices in Amman, Jordan.
Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, briefly attended the demonstration in
her first public appearance since his execution.
State-run Al-Iraqiya may have referred to the controversy over
Al-Sharqiya's coverage, when it criticized reporting on Saddam's death
by rival Iraqi and regional Arab television stations.
"The execution of Saddam unveiled the many masks of those who don't
like to see a strong, civilized and developed Iraq," an Al-Iraqiya
newscaster said Monday. "The male and female news readers of some Arab
and Iraqi satellite channels rushed to their cupboards to wear their
black clothes, announcing their sorrow about the joy of Iraqis."
Newscasters on the influential Al-Jazeera satellite channel also wore
black in the aftermath of Saddam's hanging.
The government did not specifically cite the controversy over
Al-Sharqiya's coverage of Saddam's execution in explaining the closure.
"We had sent many warnings to the channel previously, but it insisted
on circulating false news that provoked violence and hatred," said
Khalaf, the interior ministry spokesman.
On Nov. 30, the Interior Ministry said it had formed a special unit to
monitor news coverage and vowed to take legal action against
journalists who failed to correct stories the ministry deemed to be
incorrect. The ministry runs the Iraqi national police and a separate
paramilitary force.
The purpose of the monitoring unit, Khalaf said at the time, was to
find "fabricated and false news that hurts and gives the Iraqis a wrong
picture that the security situation is very bad, when the facts are
totally different."
Al-Sharqiya's programming includes a number of Iraqi soap operas. Its
owner, Saad al-Bazzaz, fled Iraq years before Saddam's fall and
returned after the regime collapsed.
Prominent employees of Al-Sharqiya have fallen victim to Iraq's
violence. Those slain include correspondent Ahmed al-Rasheed, and Walid
Hassan, a famous comedian who was shot while driving in western
Baghdad.
Hassan had performed in a comedy series called "Caricature," which
mocked coalition forces and Iraqi governments since the U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq.

to stop.
Perfetto.  Come qualsiasi paese civile dovrebbe fare.
-Stefano