Reuters bureau chief leaves Iraq after threats

The threats began on an Iraqi Facebook page run by a group that calls itself "the Hammer”. Reuters said it is believed by an Iraqi security source to be linked to armed Shi'ite groups. The 5 April post and subsequent comments demanded he be expelled from Iraq. One commenter said that killing Parker was "the best way to silence him, not kick him out”.

Three days later, a news show on Al-Ahd television station owned by Iranian-backed armed group Asaib Ahl al-Haq, broadcast a segment on Parker that included a photo of him. The segment accused the reporter and Reuters of denigrating Iraq and its government-backed forces, and called on viewers to demand Parker be expelled.

The pressure followed a report on 3 April by Parker and two colleagues detailing human rights abuses in Tikrit after government forces and Iranian-backed militias liberated the city from the Islamic State extremist group. Two Reuters journalists in the city witnessed the lynching of an Islamic State fighter by Iraqi federal police. The report also described widespread incidents of looting and arson in the city, which local politicians blamed on Iranian-backed militias.

A Reuters spokeswoman said the agency stood by the accuracy and fairness of its report. Facebook, acting on a request from Reuters, removed a series of threatening posts.

Parker has more than a decade of experience working in Iraq. He was formerly a reporter there for Agence France-Presse, Baghdad bureau chief for The Los Angeles Times and also freelanced in the country. He is a former fellow at the US Council on Foreign Relations. ■