Iraqi media barred from court
2004-07-01 19:58
Baghdad - A journalist covering Saddam Hussein's first appearance before a special tribunal for Iraq's print media was thrown out of the courtroom minutes before the hearing started, he said on Thursday.
Sadeq Rahim Jabr from the Arabic-language Al-Zaman newspaper said he had been escorted to the tightly guarded hearing with the small number of other accredited journalists but was told to leave at the last minute.
"I was already in the court and in the last minute just before Saddam was supposed to come in, they told me that the judge issued a decree to ban Al-Zaman and all Iraqi press from taking part in the proceedings, without giving any reason," he said.
"I was told to leave the courtroom. I was shocked by the judge's decision as it diminishes the role of the Iraqi press."
The journalist's claim that no other Iraqi print media were admitted could not immediately be verified.
Only a small number of journalists pooling their work were given permission to cover the landmark event which some are billing as the trial of the century.
- SAPA