BAGHDAD: Iraq has suspended orders to close 44 media operations in the country, including the BBC and Voice of America, after an outcry by press freedom advocates, an official said Tuesday.
The Communications and Media Commission that regulates the news media in Iraq will give the targeted organizations more time to pay outstanding fees and renew lapsed licenses, deputy director Ali Nasir said.
The commission denied that its previous order to close the agencies, most of them Iraqi, represented a crackdown on a free press. No media outlets were known to have been shut down. The order was issued last month but made public only this week.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory welcomed the reprieve on Tuesday, but director Ziyad al-Aajely said media licensing is still too difficult and fees are too high.
“The CMC's task and duty is to support media development, not to put hurdles on the way of the journalists,” al-Aajely said.
Earlier, the group accused the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of trying to silence critics. The dispute called into question the future ofIraq's fledgling democracy, nine years after the ouster of Saddam Hussein and six months after the last of theUStroops who overthrew him withdrew.
Nasir said Tuesday that five organizations, including the BBC and US-funded Radio Sawa, are working with the media commission to settle licensing problems and pay fees, which he said amount to about $20,000 a year for radio stations.
Most of the other organizations on the list are Iraqi, including prominent broadcasters that criticized al-Maliki, but also Shiite religious programming that had no apparent political stance. Some of the broadcasters targeted for closure are using frequencies that are either licensed to other stations or used by security forces, Nasir said.
Voice ofAmericasaid in a statement Monday that it was operating normally, adding that “this appears to be a regulatory matter concerning frequencies and licensing that is being discussed between local and federal officials inIraq.” It said there is “no indication that this regulatory issue is being directed at VOA reporters in the field.”
Lala Najafova, a publicist for the BBC, said Sunday that the British broadcaster is working to renew its license. She said the delay is due to technicalities, and no BBC reporters have been restricted in their work.