A crowd stormed and set fire to an Iraqi television station on Monday (August 31), a security source told AFP, protesters accusing the outlet of having broadcast a festive program on the Shiite day of mourning. 'Achoura.
On Sunday, the Shiites - the majority in Iraq - celebrated Achoura, which commemorates the martyrdom in 680 of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a founding event of Shiite Islam.
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On the same day, the local Dijlah television station broadcast programs including song and dance, angering many Iraqis who took offense at programming considered "
an insult to religion
".
Dijlah quickly apologized and cited an "
unintentional
"
error
.
But on Monday, "
several dozen demonstrators angry at the festive programming stormed Dijlah's office in Baghdad in the Jadiriya district
," a security source told AFP.
“
They burned down the office.
Four of Dijlah's employees were injured, and much of the office equipment was destroyed,
”the source added.
Several employees of the channel quit in protest against the programming and half a dozen Iraqi provinces immediately banned the channel.
An arrest warrant issued against a member of the channel
A Baghdad court also issued an arrest warrant on Monday for Dijlah's administrative director, Jamal al-Karbuli, who spends most of his time outside Iraq, for "
intentionally insulting the rites of a community religious
”.
According to the Iraqi penal code, insulting a religion can lead to a prison sentence of up to three years.
The court also called on the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission, which regulates the work of news organizations, to act.
In January, that commission ordered Dijlah to shut down for a month following its coverage of anti-government protests.
Masked gunmen attacked the channel's office in Baghdad during the first week of the protest movement in October 2019, and on January 10, one of his correspondents and his cameraman were shot dead in Basra, in the south of the country. .