Al-Nabaa Forum for Dialogue discussed the Freedom of Expression, Assembly, and Peaceful Protest Law with a number of specialized activists, academics, civil society representatives, media professionals, and observers of Iraqi affairs. This took place during its monthly symposium titled "Towards an Optimal Law to Guarantee Freedom of Expression," held at the Uruk Tourist Hotel hall in the capital, Baghdad. The event hosted the Dean of the College of Mass Communication at the University of Baghdad, Dr. Hashim Hassan Al-Tamimi, and civil activist and lawyer Firas Al-Khazaáli. The session was moderated by media professional Jaafar Darwish.
During his research paper presented at the symposium, the Dean of the College of Mass Communication, Dr. Hashim Hassan, stated that "the problem of freedoms and ethics began in the Paleolithic era and remains present and active to this day." He explained, "There are two philosophical trends: the religious trend, which relies on sacred religious texts with their own philosophy and views, and the liberal capitalist philosophy, which has its constitutions and profound intellectual heritage."
He added, "Everyone agrees that freedom of expression is a right we must attain; it is a natural right and not one granted by the authority or anyone else."
On the other hand, researcher Al-Khazaáli pointed out, "We have numerous observations regarding the law and its provisions. We have identified a set of observations from a legal perspective that we believe are important and necessitate attention. These include: the inaccuracy and lack of comprehensiveness of definitions; the conflation and lack of thematic unity; the right to access information vacillating between obligation and discretion; the High Commission for Human Rights acting as an appellate body; freedom of private assembly; public assembly and peaceful protest caught between prior permission and mere notification; the abolition of the right to sit-in; restricting the right to protest solely to demanding rights guaranteed by law; the repetition of articles existing in other laws; and the annulment of Coalition Provisional Authority Order No. (19) of 2003."
The Forum’s Head, Ali Al-Talqani, stated, "Guarantees of freedom of expression are secured when our organizations and the relevant authorities join forces by monitoring the workflow of the legislative authority, particularly when it enacts laws about the issue of freedoms in general and freedom of expression in particular. Therefore, we believe that the freedom of expression law passed by the Iraqi Parliament remains deficient and threatens the right of citizens and media professionals to access information and express opinions."
He added, "Today, we face significant challenges in amending the law, as we are confronting a legislative and governmental authority that did not involve civil society organizations in providing input on this law. Hence, it was necessary to hold this dialogue session with this group of specialized activists, academics, organizational representatives, media professionals, and observers of Iraqi affairs to discuss the law. Its clauses were reviewed and discussed in detail, and the symposium concluded with a set of recommendations. This will be followed by other sessions to crystallize these recommendations into a comprehensive report to be submitted to the Iraqi Council of Representatives."