The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said, “Freedom of expression is still subject to certain restrictions in some Iraqi areas because of the intervention of the security forces in the work of media institutions through put Instructions, controls and restrictions as happened in the province of Diyala in the northeast of Iraq.
The Observatory also said, “At the beginning of last March, Diyala police command distributed a form to the news agencies, website and the newspapers working in Diyala governorate, calling to fill it according to the required information, to allow it to work, under the pretext of organizing agencies and news websites work, sorting and isolating what they called phantom pages (Yellow) which broadcasts its poison among the youth without knowing the sides who stand behind it.
The form included a request to fill out the name and address of the Facebook page official and all its employees, according to the distributed form, to install the information in the leadership. It said that it is for organizational and administrative matters. Otherwise, the sites and pages are considered fake and hostile and they are closed in cooperation with the competent authorities.
“The purpose of filling out this form is to restrict the work of journalists and activists who have news pages. The operations command created the form to prevent anyone from publishing the news they think is harmful to the overall situation".
said four journalists in Diyala province in an interview with the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights: "We are trying not to fill out the form, this is a danger to us, and it is not known that this information is for political and armed parties, The pages we have on Facebook are news and public pages, and we publish the news, but the Operations Command believes that some news should not publish and this is contrary to our press work".
“We publish news of human rights violations and attacks against the civilians, news of lack services and corruption, so the authorities believe that this is harmful news, but it reveals corruption, lack services and violations". he told the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, which received a complaint from several journalists, said, “This claim is illegal and restricting press freedoms and freedom of expression, stipulated by Article 38 of the Iraqi Constitution".
The Iraqi Observatory added, “this form is a threat to the news agencies, newspapers working in the province, journalists and bloggers working in, and the command of police operations to withdraw the form and work to provide the necessary protection for journalists, bloggers and activists in social networking sites".
Article 38 of the Iraqi Constitution affirms that the State shall ensure, without prejudice to the public system and morals, freedom of expression by all means, freedom of the press, freedom of printing, freedom of advertising, freedom of media and publishing and freedom of gathering and peaceful demonstration.
A blogger in Diyala, who has two pages on Facebook, said, “Diyala police command sent him the form on Facebook and asked him to fill it out and return it, but he did not do so and refused to give information about him and his residence".
He said, “They asked me what I have published on my page if I have published a speech of hate, incitation or any threat to public security or defamation of anyone. You can hold me accountable, but do not restrict me to publishing news of lack of services and problems in my province".
This blogger believes that there are powerful political parties in Diyala police command who asked for it, and they want to know the people who are spreading the bad behaviour of their followers and members and not fulfilling the promises made during the election period".
“It is essential that there should be mechanisms to regulate the work of Facebook pages and social media in general, but not in ways that send threatening messages lining up to bloggers who criticize the general situation in the province.” said the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights.
