Shafaq News exclusively reveals details of Al-Kadhimi’s pursuit of a journalist and his demand for 250 million dinars
“I will not publish the post again.” With these words, writer and journalist Qais Hassan pledged to “calm down and reduce publication” after former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi filed a lawsuit against him and demanded financial compensation of 250 million dinars due to the material and moral damage caused by his words.
Hassan told Shafaq News Agency, “I published a post on June 30, in which I mentioned Al-Kadhimi, Adel Abdul Mahdi, and the rest of the prime ministers by name.
He added that my words were a criticism of what they had presented, the bad situation we were experiencing, and the country’s problems. On July 16, Al-Kadhimi filed a lawsuit against me before the Karkh Court of First Instance, accusing me of insult and defamation, and that I had caused him material and moral harm, and he is requesting compensation of 250 million dinars.
court session
He explained, “The session was on the 23rd of last month, but I was notified late on the 22nd, so I was unable to attend. The session was postponed to August 7 (yesterday), and then it was postponed to August 22nd, after the judge requested an expert opinion.”
Hassan confirmed, “I do not have an appeal to any party or a request, but there are movements from mutual friends, and we have not reached a result yet, and it is an attempt to calm the situation and reduce the publication, but there was a quasi-agreement between the mediators and friends not to republish the article that contains harsh words towards Al-Kadhimi in order to calm things down and drop the case, because in the event of escalation, the plaintiff will escalate further, so I will not publish the post in which I spoke about Al-Kadhimi again.”
He pointed out that “the report came through the Journalists Syndicate, and despite this, no one from the Syndicate contacted me, and they have no role, and I do not expect them to do anything given their previous positions in lawsuits similar to my case, as they did not move in any way, but their position is known, either silence or sometimes supporting the government or the authority.”
Solidarity campaign
Social media sites in Iraq are witnessing a wide solidarity campaign with the writer and journalist Qais Hassan, after the lawsuit filed against him by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi. While they denounced the policy of gagging mouths, they stressed that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are guaranteed by the Iraqi constitution.
Hassan had said in a post on his Facebook page, “Former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi filed a lawsuit against me, accusing me of insulting and defaming him based on a post I published about him and the heads of the political class since 2003, and I mean the prime ministers, and he is demanding financial compensation in the amount of 250 million dinars (a quarter of a billion) due to the material and moral damage caused to him by my words, as he mentioned in his lawsuit.”
He explained: “On (August 7) was the second session in which the judge decided to refer the case to an expert before ruling on it on the 22nd of this month. To tell the truth, when I left the court session, I asked myself as I returned home tired and overwhelmed, would Al-Kadhimi dare to file a lawsuit against any of the (strong) people with influence, authority and prestige? Would he dare to file a lawsuit against any of the members of the parties and armed factions who did not leave any ugly word or insult without describing him with it? Why did he choose me to arbitrate with me before the law? And why did none of those included in my words file a lawsuit?”
He continued, wondering: “My words that I published about Al-Kadhimi and the prime ministers were as harsh as our situation was harsh and bad. I was angry in my words, as people get angry in a country where everything has been violated: chivalry, integrity, honor, law, constitution, the weak who dream of freedom, prosperity, and the rule of law. Is there anyone among the weak who does not want the rule of law? My words were angry about an official, not a person. I was angry about public figures because of the enormous amount of pain and failure in which we live. What do we write about our ridiculous and tearful situation, except to write with pain?”
He stressed that “resorting to the law is undoubtedly a civilized behavior, and is even required for those who want to see a (respected) state. Then, isn’t a respected state the one where the law prevails? This matter (respect for the law) must be sacred to statesmen first, and the scale of justice must be fair to everyone without regard to their strength or weakness.”
Shafaq.com