The Baghdad bureau chief of Radio Free Iraq was shot dead by the Kurdish officer guarding the presidential complex in the upper market Jadriyah neighbourhood of Baghdad, according to the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate (IJS) and the AFP.
The shooting followed an argument between Bidaiwi and the officer in the peshmerga forces in charge at the compound, media reports added. The journalist who was believed on his way to work inside the compound died on the scene and the officer responsible was later arrested on the orders of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
The incident provoked protests by other journalists. Following a call from the IJS, Iraqi newspapers working in Baghdad didn’t go to print on Sunday in protest, demanding immediate action from the government.
Source: IJS, AFP