Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Reuters Baghdad Chief Flees Iraq Amid Threats From Shi’ite Militias

Militias Furious Reuters Covered Police Lynching of ISIS Suspect

by Jason Ditz, April 13, 2015
Ned Parker, a top American journalist and former Baghdad bureau chief for Reuters, fled Iraq today amid growing threats from Shi’ite militias in that nation, who demanded either his expulsion or his death.
The militias are angry that Reuters reporters covered a mob of Iraqi police summarily executing a detained ISIS suspect, hacking him to death in what they said was revenge for the death of a police colonel in the battle of Tikrit.
Though in this case the lynching was carried out by Iraqi government workers, it added to growing complaints about the troops and militias carrying out sectarian attacks in the wake of retaking Sunni cities from ISIS.
The Iraqi military promised an “investigation” into the killing of the detainee, but appeared not to make any effort at all to stem the tide of death threats against Reuters for unveiling it, which finally forced Parker from the nation.

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