Journalist sues Samarra police chief

Iraq-Journalist SALAH EL-Din / IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi journalist on Tuesday sued the chief of the Samarra police and his bodyguards after they beat him yesterday. Hamid Rashied, a photographer and a reporter working for the Associated Press (AP) told IraqiNews.com news agency that he was humiliated by the chief of the Samarra police’s bodyguard, Ibrahim Zanon, on Monday (Jan. 12), noting that he took legal action against the officer on Tuesday (Jan. 13) at the Samarra court. However, the Samarra police told the correspondent from IraqiNews.com news agency that they do not know anything about the incident. Salah al-Din has an area of 24,751 square kilometers (9,556.4 sq mi). The estimated population for 2003 was 2,146,500 people. Located in Central Iraq, north of Baghdad, it is a mainly Sunni province with only two Shiite districts, namely Balad and al-Dujail. Its capital city is Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It also includes other important districts like Baiji, north of Tikrit, 175 km north of Baghdad. The province also contains the significantly larger city of Samarra. Before 1976 the province was part of the governorate of Baghdad. It is named after Saladin (written Salah ah Din in modern Arabic), an ethnic Kurd and hero of the 12th century. Salahuddin province is a variant version of the province’s name. SH (S)/SR 1