US media group demands Iraq free reporter

NEW YORK, Oct 12: A US-based media watchdog demanded that Iraqi authorities release a female journalist for a London-based Arabic newspaper who has been held without charge for three weeks.

Kalshan al-Bayati, an Iraqi correspondent for Al-Hayat, was detained in Tikrit when she went to the security forces headquarters to retrieve a personal computer confiscated during a raid on her home, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

''It is outrageous that Iraqi forces feel free to lock up a journalist without explanation or due process for three weeks,'' Joel Simon, the committee's executive director, said in a statement.

''The authorities in Tikrit must release Kalshan al-Bayati immediately and cease harassing her,'' he said, adding that al-Bayati was being held in a women's prison in Tikrit, 112 miles (180 km) north of Baghdad.

Al-Bayati's sister said she had been working on an article for the Saudi-owned Al-Hayat about insurgents. Al-Bayati had been jailed for three days in early September before being released and ordered to stay at home, the committee said.

It said Al-Hayat quoted its correspondent at the time as saying security forces had investigated her for possible ties to insurgents but found no link.

The independent, nonprofit group also raised concerns about the kidnappings of two more journalists in Baghdad.

It said Ali Kareem, editor-in-chief of the private weekly Nabad Al-Shabab, was kidnapped in southern Baghdad on Monday, while Muhammad Abdul Rahman, 55, a broadcaster for the privately owned Radio Dijla, was taken on September 13 in western Baghdad.

Armed groups have kidnapped at least 43 journalists in Iraq since April 2004, the committee said.

REUTERS