BOC opens fire on satellite channel’s crew – society

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A force from the Baghdad Operations Command opened fire on a crew of the Beladi satellite channel of head of the National Reform bloc, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and prevented them from entering al-Kadhimiya City, where thousands of Shiite pilgrims flock to celebrate the anniversary of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, Society to Defending Press Freedom in Iraq said on Tuesday. “A crew of the Beladi satellite channel was attacked by an emergency force of the BOC and was prevented from entering al-Kadhimiya City despite holding all required documents,” the society said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The society condemned the behavior, calling on the BOC to take urgent measure against this force for not obeying orders regarding not preventing media teams from doing their job. Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, (Seventh of Safar, 128 AH- Twenty-fifth of Rajab, 183 AH) (Approximately: October 28, 746 AD-September 1, 799 AD), the seventh of the Twelver Shiite Imams. Imam Kadhim was the son of the sixth Shiite Imam, Ja’far al-Sadiq, and his mother’s name was Hamida Khatoon. He was born during the power struggles between the Umayyad and the Abbasid dynasties. In 795, Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid imprisoned Musa al-Kadhim. Four years later, he ordered Sindi ibn Shahiq to poison him. He died in a prison in Baghdad in 799 and was buried in Baghdad’s al-Karkh district in an area named after him: al-Kadhimiya. A stampede on Jisr al-Aiema (Bridge of Imams), leading to the tomb of Imam Kadhim in the town in 2005 killed more than 1,000 people and wounded 300 others, also causing part of the bridge to collapse. SH (S)   2