Army involved in attack on IraqiNews.com correspondent in Basra – JFO

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) said on Wednesday that investigation made by the Iraqi military intelligence in Basra unveiled the involvement of army elements in the attack on IraqiNews.com news agency’s correspondent in the southern province. “Ali al-Najdi, the correspondent of IraqiNews.com news agency in Basra, was going back to his house in al-Jamaayiat neighborhood at 1:00pm on Tuesday (Feb. 24) when elements of an Iraqi army checkpoint prevented him from entering it,” said the JFO in a statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “The reporter tried to explain that he is a journalist and lives in the neighborhood,” it added. The release then explained that the reporter was cursed, beaten and detained without a feasible reason. “The intelligence officer opened an investigation and brought the soldiers who assaulted al-Najdi. They apologized for their behavior,” it noted. Al-Najdi refused to sue them or to get compensations. The JFO is a Baghdad-based non-governmental Iraqi organization that monitors violations and aggression against media staff in Iraq. Basra is 590 km south of Baghdad. MH (S)/SH 1