The Common Ills: Iraq admits to holding Nadir Dendoune and the rains continue

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Iraq admits to holding Nadir Dendoune and the rains continue

Alsumaria reports that Reporters Without Borders and Iraq's JFO (Journalistic Freedoms Observatory) are demanding the release of French journalist Nadir Dendoune. From Monday's snapshot:

As we noted this morning, Nadir Dendoune, who holds dual Algerian and Australian citizenship was covering Iraq for the fabled French newspaper Le Monde's monthly magazine. His assignment was to document Iraq 10 years after the start of the Iraq War. Alsumaria explains the journalist was grabbed by authorities in Baghdad last week for the 'crime' of taking pictures. (Nouri has imposed a required permit, issued by his government, to 'report' in Iraq.) All Iraq News adds the journalist has been imprisoned for over a week now without charges.

Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory and Reporters Without Borders issued a joint-statement noting Nadir Dendoune holds Algerian, Australian and French nationalities and that while they do not know the date of his arrest, they know he made a January 28th phone call from custody to a friend to pass on that he'd been arrested. They call for his release and urge that the government be forthcoming about the details of his arrest and imprisonment. Yesterday, the Committee to Protect Journalists finally issued a statement on the matter:

"The arbitrary jailing of a journalist is a vestige of the Saddam Hussein regime that is completely out of place in Iraq's democracy today," said CPJ's Middle East and North Africa Coordinator Sherif Mansour. "Nadir Dendoune should be released immediately."
The Iraqi Syndicate for Journalists condemned Dendoune's detention, calling it a violation of Iraqi law and the constitution and saying that it distorted the country's image in front of the international community.

For more data and analysis on Iraq, visit CPJ's Iraq page here.

This morning, AP reports that Ministry of the Interior spokesperson Saad Maan Ibrahim confirms that they are holding Nadir Dendoune.

Raining
Raining for days on end
Staying inside again
Making up lists
Of things to do
When the rain ends
-- "Raining," written by Carly Simon, first appears on her boxed set Clouds of My Coffee

Alsumaria reports that rain's expected in Baghdad today and for the next three. This is not a minor issue. Not only have Baghdad streets been flooded, there have been dangers of electrical shocks, street lights have been out, outside of Baghdad there have been homes collapsing and much worse. All Iraq News notes that 1500 families in Baiji (Salahuddin Province) have been evacuated from their homes due to flooding and they are currently in tents and receiving food and aid from the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. All Iraq News notes a dam collapsed in Salahuddin Province (a village near Tikrit) and the provincial government is evacuating residents in Samarra. If you click here, you can watch an Alsumuria video of the flooding in Baghdad. In most places, the water comes up to the knees.

The following community sites -- Antiwar.com, C-SPAN, Jody Watley, Antiwar.com, Susan's On the Edge, IVAW, Chocolate City and Pacifica Evening News -- updated last night and this morning: