No journalist detained in Iraq for expressing opinion

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Chairman of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, Mo’ayad al-Lamy, has said at the opening of the General Conference of the Arab Journalists in Baghdad on Saturday that “the Iraqi prisons are not holding a single journalist who has been imprisoned for publishing an article in the press,” expressing rejoice for the high attendance of journalists in the conference. “Until today, no journalist had been imprisoned for publishing an article in a newspaper or in a radio or television station; although the media man is sometimes burdened with what he expresses for the presence of full freedom in the new Iraq,” Lamy said. “All journalists who have presented a lot in Iraq and Arab journalists, have come to Iraq,” Lamy added. Commenting on the Baghdad Conference, Lamy said, “We have spoken to the Chairmanship of the Federation and the Arab Journalists more than once to host the Conference, but the security circumstances stood in our way.We again raised the suggestion in the Qatar Conference, where there was full support for holding the conference in Baghdad,” he highlighted. “Baghdad has not hosted such a large conference, as the General Conference of the Arab Journalists for over 3 decades,” Lamy noted. Earlier, Prime Minister Maliki addressed the General Conference of the Arab Journalists in Baghadad. SKH (TS)/SR 795