On the streets

A small picture of life in modern Iraq, courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists:

The Committee to Protect Journalists today demanded that Iraqi authorities release Al-Hayat correspondent Kalshan al-Bayati, who was detained in Tikrit three weeks ago.

Al-Bayati has been held without charge since she went to the security forces headquarters in Tikrit on September 18 to retrieve a personal computer confiscated during a raid on her home, according to CPJ sources.

“It is outrageous that Iraqi forces feel free to lock up a journalist without explanation or due process for three weeks,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “The authorities in Tikrit must release Kalshan al-Bayati immediately and cease harassing her.”

Al-Bayati, an Iraqi correspondent for the London-based, Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, is being held in a women’s prison in Tikrit, 112 miles (180 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

A sister said Al-Bayati was working on an article for the Saudi-owned newspaper about insurgents in Saleheddin province. Al-Bayati’s prior reporting had been critical of security forces in Tikrit, hometown of ousted President Saddam Hussein.

Life for journalists in Iraq has become almost intolerable.… 

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