Parliament Wants Al-Sharqiya and Azzaman Shut

The Iraqi parliament has called on the government to shut down the Al-Sharqiya satellite channel and the international issue of Azzaman newspaper for their coverage of the parliamentary session on decentralisation legislation last Wednesday. In its statement, parliament said that both outlets described the law as "dividing Iraq and dragging it into a civil war". Hamid al-Sa'idi, a lawmaker from the United Iraqi Alliance, said his party did not support the closure call and said there should be room for criticism. Sunni lawmaker Hussein al-Faluji called the parliamentary move a dictatorial step.