The Hysteria of Defeat: the US Occupation arrests the journalist Fadil Badrani.

 

By Salah al-Mukhtar, General Coordinator of Free Non-Governmental Organizations in Iraq.

 

Before the file on the arrest of Kalshan al-Bayati was closed, the American occupation in Iraq arrested the courageous journalist and writer Dr. Fadil al-Badrani when he arrived at the memorial service for his brother, the martyr Fayiz al-Badrani, that was being held in al-Fallujah, the defiant city of Resistance. Al-Badrani’s arrest is yet another indication of the confused failure of the occupation and of the fact that they have now entered the stage of making hysterical decisions as a result of the heavy and repeated defeats they are suffering on the battlefield at the hands of the heroic Iraqi patriotic Resistance.  The hysteria of defeat has become, more than before, an atmosphere conducive to crushing the voices of freedom in Iraq with premeditated murder or at least with arrest, as a response to their demands that the occupation leave Iraq and that authority in the country be restored to its rightful owners.  We, in the name of the free writers and journalists of Iraq demand that the US occupation guarantee the life of the journalist Fadil al-Badrani, set him free immediately, and allow him to return to the practice of his profession.  We call on the Reuters News Agency, for which he works, to intervene immediately for his release and we call on the movement Journalists Without Borders to organize a campaign immediately for his release.  Last but not least, we hope that all free journalists and writers will without delay today and in the days to come take up their pens and write so as to bring pressure to bear and guarantee the life and freedom of the journalist Fadil al-Badrani.