Haider Hadi, a reporter for "Iraq 24" TV in Karbala, stated he was "detained for 3 hours by a group affiliated with the Imam Hussain shrine while recording a TV broadcast with a woman".

Hadi accused "employees of Imam Hussain shrine of assaulting him and taking his phones and money on the background of expressing the pain of a woman whose land was stolen and destroyed by the management of the Imam Hussain shrine", in an interview with the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory "JFO".

Hadi went on to say the he videoed the woman to show her suffering," but "members of the shrine brought him to a group linked with them in caravans to question me".

"I asked them to submit me to a judge-led inquiry for being a non-security entity," Hadi explained, "but they refused, and one of them responded by threatening me saying (If you ever talk about the shrine in the future, we will break your hand.... so remove the video)".

Hadi told JFO" that "the arrest lasted from 1:00 pm till 3:00 pm, June 19, 2022".

JFO calls on the governor of Karbala and the government's security officials to launch an investigation on what Haider Hadi stated.

JFO would like to draw attention to Article 10 of the 2011 Journalists' Rights Law, which states:

First: It is not permissible to question or interrogate journalists over accusations of a crime related to performing their professional duty without a prior notice to the Journalists Syndicate.

Second: The journalist's Syndicate should be informed of any lawsuit filed against a journalist due to a crime related to performing his/her journalism duty.

Third: The head of the Journalists Syndicate or his representative may be present during the journalist's questioning, initial interrogation, or trial.