Iraq reporter 'killed by presidential guard'

[Piling]

Baghdad (AFP) - An officer in a brigade responsible for guarding a Baghdad compound controlled by ailing Iraqi President Jalal Talabani killed a journalist after an argument on Saturday, officials said.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the exchange that led to the shooting in the upscale Jadriyah neighbourhood, but the Kurdish peshmerga captain fled the scene shortly after Mohammed Bidaiwi, editor-in-chief of Radio Free Iraq, was killed.

"The peshmerga captain killed him after he stopped him (Bidaiwi) from getting into the compound," said a journalist at Radio Free Iraq who declined to be identified.

"We did not move the corpse yet... The officer responsible has disappeared."

An interior ministry official confirmed the account, while Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's official spokesman called for the officer to be arrested and taken to court.

"Our forces are laying siege to the presidential offices," said Ali Mussawi, who suggested the presidential guard was harbouring the officer.

"If this brigade refuses to hand over the criminal, we have orders to break in and arrest him by force."

Radio Free Iraq is a branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Bidaiwi has been its chief editor since 2006.

The so-called "Talabani Compound" is just outside the heavily-fortified Green Zone, home to the prime minister's residence, parliament and the American and British embassies.

The compound also houses presidential residences, as well as several offices and private residences, including Radio Free Iraq's offices.

[Londoner]

That was too bad and disappointing. Presidential Command guard condemned the killing and handed over the persons responsible.

[Piling]

The worst is that a stupid or tragic mistake from a military killing a civilian can be changed as 'a Kurdish peshmerga killed an Arab journalist in Bagdad'. Let's hope that Maliki won't play this scenario.

[Anthea]

A great many people would love to shot journalists due to their intrusive behaviour - it must be extremely difficult to guard against them - the entire situation could easily become out of control

[Londoner]

The worst is that a stupid or tragic mistake from a military killing a civilian can be changed as 'a Kurdish peshmerga killed an Arab journalist in Bagdad'. Let's hope that Maliki won't play this scenario.

It is really tragic. How this happened? This officer must be suffering from something. Nevertheless we still don't know what happened really. The probability is very high that malikey will do his worst in this case.

[Piling]

March 23, 2014

BAGHDAD,— An Iraqi journalist was shot dead by a Kurdish presidential officer at a checkpoint in Baghdad on Saturday as he went to work, provoking protests by other journalists and a promise by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to arrest the perpetrator.

A Kurdish Peshmerga presidential guard in Baghdad has shot dead the head of Radio Free Iraq radio station, for allegedly not stopping at a checkpoint, adding fuel to a burning feud between Kurdistan and Iraq center over oil and budget issues.

Muhammad Bidaiwi Shammari, an Iraqi university professor and journalist, was shot dead by a Peshmerga lieutenant attached to a guards unit for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is ethnically Kurdish.

According to Ziad al-Ajili, head of the Journalistic Freedom Observatory, Shammari was killed after he refused to stop at a checkpoint. The victim was a journalism professor and head of Radio Free Iraq in Baghdad.

"I was watching the cars passing through the checkpoint when a quarrel occurred between a driver and a soldier ... suddenly, two soldiers came and dragged the driver from his car and began to beat him," a man who identified himself as Riyadh and an eyewitness at the scene told Reuters.

"The driver pushed one of the soldiers away but a lieutenant came and shot him dead in the head".

Badawi's body was left at the scene for hours as dozens of Iraqi journalists gathered to protest his killing and demand the arrest of his killer.

Troops and army humvees surrounded the presidential compound in preparation to arrest the killer, but Iraqi security forces said Kurdish troops refused to hand him over.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went to the scene, kissed the victim's body and vowed to arrest the killer.

Twenty minutes later, the commander of the Baghdad security operations center said the killer had been detained and state televisionwww.Ekurd.net broadcast footage of an officer it identified as the perpetrator.

Dozens of journalists came out to Hurriya Square holding the body of Badawi wrapped in a red blanket and chanting: "No no to Kurds, No no to Kurds".

Badawi was a father of five.

"Iraq is the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists," said Ibrahim al-Saragi, the head of the Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association. "There is a legislative vacuum inside Iraq to protect journalists and unfortunately, the targeting of journalists in Iraq is taking place on a daily basis, due to the lack of a mechanism to protect them".

Tensions rose at the scene after the shooting, and are likely to worsen the already blazing rows between the Kurds and the Shiite Arab-led government in Baghdad over oil and the budget.

As the incident unfolded, the office of President Talabani, who himself has been absent from Iraq and in Germany since a stroke in December 2012, released a statement promising full cooperation with the law, and the handover of the guard to Iraqi authorities.

“What happened is against the values on which the special presidential guards have been trained,” read the statement. “In the past years, the guards have insisted on performing their tasks professionally and holding human rights in high esteem,” it said.

Maliki’s media advisor, Ali al-Mussawi, told Rudaw that the government insists on prosecuting the guard, and would release the outcome of its investigation and proceedings.

The incident came as the Kurdistan Region announced it will resume oil exports of 100,000 barrels a day via the Iraqi pipeline network starting on April 1, as a “goodwill gesture” toward resolving a bitter oil and budget dispute with Baghdad.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters | rudaw.net | Ekurd.net

Sounds very bad, Obviously the peshmergas could not feel their own life threatened. He had overreacted. That seems to be a real homicide.

In Iraq dozen of journalists are killed every year and Iraqi government and Justice do not care. But in THIS case, it could be used in a political aim.

I've red that Hero Talabani called Maliki after the arrest.