Have you complained about this?
Crackdown on foreign journalists
By Mike Seccombe and Reuters
April 2 2003
One of only two Australian journalists in Baghdad was uncontactable
last night after having been ordered out of Iraq.
The News Ltd correspondent, Ian McPhedran, was believed to be on
the road to Amman, Jordan, after having his satellite phone
confiscated by the information ministry.
He was expected to arrive in Jordan today.
It is understood that McPhedran's expulsion followed his decision to
leave his hotel alone to see damage at the Information Ministry
building caused by coalition bombing, after his compulsory Iraqi
ministry "minder" failed to arrive.
He was caught at the scene, colleagues said, by the director-general
of information, had his pass confiscated and was ordered out.
His expulsion may indicate a tightening of security by Iraqi authorities. Foreign correspondents were
explicitly warned the previous evening about moving around unescorted.
McPhedran's departure leaves the Herald's Paul McGeough as the only Australian journalist still
reporting from the besieged city.
Meanwhile, an American journalist, who was former vice-president Al Gore's photographer, is missing in
Iraq along with two other US journalists taken from their Baghdad hotel.
Molly Bingham was taken by Iraqi police from her room in the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad last Tuesday,
said her cousin, Clara Bingham, adding that the family feared Iraq believed she was a spy.
"They searched her room, packed up all her belongings and they took her away," said Ms Bingham in
an interview with ABC's Good Morning America program.
"We are really frantic at this stage," she said.
Two other journalists working for New York's Newsday newspaper also disappeared last Tuesday from
the Palestine Hotel and are still missing. They are Matthew McAllester, 33, and photographer Moises
Saman, 29.
smh.com.au |
