Baghdad: The Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al Awsat said yesterday it fired its Baghdad correspondent, a day after printing controversial accusations wrongly attributed to a UN spokesman.
The report drew condemnation from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and several other leading Shiite figures and bodies demanding an apology.
The sacking of the journalist, who was not named, came after the paper ran an article on Sunday accusing Iranian pilgrims taking part in the Shia Muslim commemoration of Arbaeen of physically harassing women.
The article quoted a World Health Organization spokesman as saying that after last year’s pilgrimage more than 169 Iraqi women became pregnant out of wedlock.
The UN’s health agency said the “claim that this information was released by a WHO headquarters communications officer is completely erroneous.”
