A French-Australian journalist has been under detention in Iraq for a week for allegedly taking pictures in a restricted area in Baghdad's southern Dora district.
Police said that Nadir Dendoune - who was working for the French monthly magazine Le Monde Diplomatique - lacked the necessary government permits for taking photographs.
Dendoune, who also holds Australian and Algerian passports, "did not tell local authorities about his activities, and did not ask for authorisation to take photos," said an Iraqi government official.
He said the journalist was in good health and that the matter is still under investigation.
Iraq's journalists' association called for Dendoune's immediate release, as did the New York-based press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
It said his arrest is due to ambiguities in Iraq's 2011 media law that have created unnecessary barriers about obtaining access to information.
"The arbitrary jailing of a journalist is a vestige of the Saddam Hussein regime that is completely out of place in Iraq's democracy today," said CPJ spokesman Sherif Mansour.
Sources: Sydney Daily Telegraph/Asharq Alawsat/CPJ
