Oh my. Journalists and candidates arrested

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/AP_President_chides_Bush_Admin_for_0319.html

AP president: US arrests journalist in Iraq to 'control' information

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday March 19, 2008

Associated Press president Tom Curley says his news organization does not buy the government's argument that one of its photographers arrested in Iraq was working on behalf of the enemy, and he alleged the US is rounding up journalists in an attempt to control information.

"To say the least, we see things very differently," Curley commented dryly, regarding photographer Bilal Hussein, who was arrested two years ago and remains in military custody.

Noting that at least a dozen other Iraqi photographers have been detained or arrested, Curley stated, "It's impossible not to conclude that the words and pictures these journalists produced were considered unhelpful to the war effort and that their arrests would have served a broader strategy of information control."

Curley also called on journalists to demand that all the presidential candidates make a commitment to reversing a directive issued by Attorney General John Ashcroft shortly after September 11 that radically restricted the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/01/29/65312.html

Thursday, 29 January 2009

Run-up to elections less violent than feared

Three candidates killed ahead of Iraq polls

BAGHDAD (Agencies)

Gunmen killed three Iraqi candidates in separate incidents on Thursday, two days before Iraq holds provincial polls that will test the war-weary country's fragile democracy.

The run-up to Saturday's provincial vote -- seen as a key test of Iraq's progress since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion -- had been relatively violence-free but the killings are certain to raise fears that militants could throw polling day into chaos. snip

As violence drops sharply across Iraq, candidates have embraced a colorful and vocal campaign, plastering posters across the country, holding festive rallies in parks and floating balloons carrying their names.

There have been hiccups. Four candidates from a list backed by followers of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were arrested on Thursday.

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1. These are pretty old articles.

One's dated March 19, 2008, the other one's dated January 29, 2009.