IWJF and Civil society org demand that the draft freedom of expression law, demonstration, assembly and deportation be submitted for the next parliamentary session

baghdad:iwjf

Within the framework of the Shahrazad Project (Legal Clinic), IWJF held on Saturday, July 15 at the Cultural Center, a symposium on “Freedom of Expression Law, Demonstration, Peaceful Gathering and the Right to Information Law”, in the presence of a group of politicians, media professionals, academics and activists, and representatives of civil society organizations. The seminar, which was moderated by Amal Ghazi, opened by welcoming the audience and introducing the seminar curriculum. Mr. Adnan Al-Sarraj, head of the Iraqi Center for Media Development, presented his paper on the necessity of legislating the right to information law through pressure and participating in state institutions, including the Integrity Commission for implementing the anti-corruption agreement. .

He continued: International conventions provided for the right to access information, and Iraq so far lacks the organization of this right, which is harmful to the citizen and then to the segment of scientific researchers, and media involved in the transfer of information.

The president of the Iraqi Center for Media Development concluded his paper that “the right to information is one of the most important tools of openness and transparency and plays a role in the promotion and protection of democracy.” So many countries in Morocco – Egypt, the Netherlands, Poland and a number of Eastern European countries –

Followed by the legal paper Firas Al-Khazali: who affirmed that the Freedom of Expression Law deservedly deserved the name of (the law restricting the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and demonstration, and reviewed through his paper the most important constraints facing the law:

• Broad public restriction, restriction of the citizen’s pronunciation
• Challenging or derogating from religions
• Permission of the administrative authority in advance – The administration shall issue an authorization or authorization without a real judicial review, in addition to the judicial review and terrorism of the organizers, the time limit.

No person has the right to exercise his right to express or hold a meeting or to censor him. If he commits a violation of public order, he is entitled to apply the appropriate sanctions against him,” Khazali said.

In an intervention by Mrs. Nibras Al Mamouri, President of the IWJF in response to the importance of diversifying the topics held in the seminars, she explained that “the work of the media forum to convey the true image of women media and not fake, which now appear through the media,” asserting: The issues we raise is advocacy media for community issues Civil and human rights in its civil, national, constitutional and legislative perspective

“We held several seminars and dealt with various issues, humanitarian, social, technical, and alone, not only at the holding of these seminars, but the results obtained from them, and this is what we have done in a symposium proposed amendment of the personal status law that we were able to collect signatures to withdraw this law in addition to the work of posters Social networking sites, which led to the support of the Speaker of the Parliament for our withdrawal of the law, which is a great achievement for all

Al-Mamouri: We must use the language of negotiation and not to make the government an opponent to us even to give a key to the ill-fated within the government in addition to the work of legal review in the adoption of our issues, and raise its proposals so as not to mix the papers and remain in a closed circle.

Dr. Bushra Al-Obaidi, Legal Advisor to the Media Forum: she gave some observations on the law and compared it to the Kurdistan Region

She stressed: There is a similarity between the law of access to information in some materials in the Center and the region.

However, the law in the region is concerned with obtaining information only for the Kurdish citizen, while in the center the Kurdish citizen has the right to obtain information from the institutions of the center. Al-Obeidi continued: The second observation There is no law regarding the researcher, despite his usefulness to the state and the institution we have to give privacy and facilities to the researcher, On those who misuse the information obtained by .the State

A statement by Mrs. Iman Abdul Rahman, head of the Baghdad Women’s Organization: We confirmed that we are not with the amendment of the Constitution, but with the interpretation of the Constitution of the competent legal authorities. When the rejection of the law or deportation put the points that called for deportation.

There has been extensive discussion among participants and researchers about the need for media orientation on the importance of interpreting and understanding the Constitution, and working to develop the Iraqi constitution, and eliminate the privatization

The meeting agreed to approve the draft law on freedom of expression, demonstration and peaceful assembly and its transfer to the next parliamentary session. The IWJF activity will take place within the Shahrazad project for its third season in cooperation with the Bridge to.. Organization and Republic of Union Jermaine and the International Initiative for Solidarity with Iraqi Civil Society. .