[Media-watch] Aussie reporter expelled from Iraq by Iraqi authorities

[iainc2003 at tesco.net]

Aussie reporter expelled from Iraq
Wednesday 2 April 2003, 6:05 AM 
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/02/1048962780004.html

Iraqi authorities have expelled Australian News Ltd reporter Ian McPhedran from Baghdad, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr McPhedran, who along with Fairfax's Paul McGeough, was one of two Australian print journalists still in the capital.
Mr McPhedran said an Iraqi official ordered him to leave the country immediately on Monday afternoon Baghdad time.
He said he and South African reporter Bonny Schoonakker had left the Meridien Palestine Hotel, where they had been staying since the start of the war, to travel to the Information Ministry across the Tigris river.
He said they had permission to make the journey, but Iraqi officials claimed they had broken the rules and ordered them to leave the country.
Mr McPhedran and Bonny Schoonakker arrived in neighbouring Jordan around 5.30pm (AEST) yesterday, he wrote in the Telegraph.
He said officials ignored his repeated appeals to be allowed to stay in Baghdad.
"You must get out - you have broken the rules," he said an official told him.
"You will pack your bags, pay your bills and get out. You will leave my country immediately."
Mr McPhedran said he knew he had done the right thing by checking with officials whether he was allowed to leave the hotel, and had been given permission.
"When I later sought out the official who had given me permission to undertake the trip, he simply shrugged as he observed that I - and the driver who had escorted me - were `in a lot of trouble'," he wrote in the paper.
"I began to realise that the more I argued, the more I was increasing my chances of being thrown into jail."
Mr McPhedran said he and Schoonakker left Baghdad around 12.30pm (AEST).
They saw signs of military activity about three hours west of the capital, passing a village as it was attacked by a B-52.
A Telegraph spokesman said last night he believed McPhedran would keep reporting from the Middle East.
©2003 AAP