War of words erupts between TV host and govt spokesperson over Iraq protests

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An Iraqi television anchor and a government spokesperson traded insults in a heated on-air debate on Monday night over the death of protesters in the latest round of violence in the country.

Senior Dijlah TV anchor Nabeel Jassim hosted Abdulkareem Khalaf, military spokesperson for caretaker prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, on his live talk show Viewpoint.

The interview took place amid a surge in protests since last Sunday, due to perceived procrastination by Iraqi politicians in response to popular demands.

More than four months after demonstrations first began, protesters ramped up the pressure by blocking major critical highways across the country, including the capital Baghdad. On Monday, at least two protesters were killed in Baghdad alone.

With national tensions high, debate between anchor and guest repeatedly heated up, with Khalaf vehemently denying security forces had fired at protesters and that protesters had been shot dead on Monday.

Khalaf insisted throughout the interview that all provided figures on the protester death toll were “exaggerations” that help the media present themselves as popular “heroes” amid the chaos. The military spokesperson accused Jassim of having the wrong information and not “following events well”.

Khalaf also justified the detention of nine, mostly young protestors for trying to block major roads. Jassim questioned the legality of arresting protesters who had blocked the highways, much to Khalaf’s ire.

Tension continued to escalate until close to the show’s conclusion, when Jassim called on Khalaf to “grow up”, “get it together” and speak “respectfully” when answering questions, to which Khalaf responded in a similar tone.

“Be respectful you mouthpiece of the authority, the defender of killing and killers,” Jassim said.

The two threatened to bring up each other’s history, before Jassim called on the channel’s staff to stop the episode’s airing “because the people don’t need to see this”.

“I am no longer honored to speak to someone as empty as you, you insect,” Khalaf said while removing his mic and headphones, before putting his jacket on over his military uniform and leaving his seat .

Jassim, who holds a doctorate in media, later took to his Facebook page to apologize to his followers.

“We, at our program, work on the rational, information space…we don’t look for cockfighting, or parties of insults and abuse,” Jassim said on Monday.

Though the show’s staff respected Khalaf’s rank of Brigadier General, the spokesman “insulted the program and viewers,” Jassim said. 

“Throughout the 28 minutes of the program time, we tried to contain the situation, and for the program to continue in a manner beneficial for a meeting,” he added.

The on-air disagreement is indicative of Iraq’s deep divide as months of protest show little sign of relent. Protesters persist in their demands of an overhaul of the political and electoral system, for the post-2003 political class to abandon their authority, and for an improvement of Iraq’s socio-economic conditions.

Protesters have been met with deadly violence from the outset with more than 511 protesters and members of security forces killed and around 17,000 wounded, according to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.

Through Khalaf, the government has persistently denied that Iraqi security forces have targeted protesters. The government previously claimed that an unnamed “third party” is behind the killing of the protesters.

Dijlah TV has itself lost two of its staff – prominent journalist Ahmed Abdul Samad and his cameraman, Safaa al-Ghali – who were shot by unknown gunmen in their car while covering protests in Basra on January 10.

In a clampdown on press freedom in Iraq, the Iraqi government’s Communications and Media Commission (CMC) issued an order to suspend the operating licenses of nine television channels for their protest coverage, including Dijlah. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that the channel’s Baghdad office had been raided in November.

Iraq’s government has also implemented frequent internet blackouts in order to cut communication between protesters and the rest of the world, making it difficult for journalists to ascertain what is happening on the ground.

Ahmed Mulla Talal, a prominent Iraqi talk show host said on Tuesday that Jassim had acted professionally, blaming Khalaf for the escalation.

There has not yet been a response on the part of the government or Khalaf himself.