Iraqi journalist Ali al-Dhabhawi, 41, a news presenter and director of Al-Baghdadia TV, was arrested on July 31, 2025, shortly after Iraqi security forces stormed the outlet's Baghdad office. On August 4, he was sentenced to three years in prison on criminal charges.
Security forces closed the Al-Baghdadia TV office in the capital without providing any formal explanation, arresting six journalists and later arresting Dhabhawi. The six journalists were released on bail on August 4, 2025, but the office remains closed.
According to his cousin, Hamsa Salam Hammadi, Dhabhawi was taken into custody at his home in Baghdad’s Abu Nawas neighborhood and held at the Rusafa Intelligence Directorate, which is affiliated with Iraq’s Ministry of Interior. Hammadi told CPJ that “Dhabhawi was held in solitary confinement, his mobile phones were confiscated.”
On August 3, 2025, Dhabhawi was moved to the Najaf Transfer Prison. “The following morning, he appeared before a misdemeanor court judge, who convicted him on four separate charges without questioning him,” Hammadi said. “He was sentenced to three years in prison, and even after we filed an appeal, the verdict was upheld as final.”
Court documents reviewed by CPJ confirmed that Dhabhawi was sentenced to three years in prison based on lawsuits previously filed against him. A medical clinic owner accused Dhabhawi of threatening to sue him if he did not install surveillance cameras in the clinic. Such a threat is a violation under Article 432 of the Penal Code. The same person also accused Dhabhawi of physical assault in a November 1, 2024 incident. The court documents note that the dispute between the two men was tied to Dhabhawi's complaint against local security units that same year.
A colonel and another police officer had also filed a case against Dhabhawi in which they alleged that he had insulted them, describing arrests they made as “gang work.” These comments fall under Article 230 regarding insulting on-duty public employees.
Ameen Dhabhawi, the jailed journalist's nephew, told CPJ that Ali's wife described the raid of their home as “terrifying and violent,” and that officers seized documents and equipment, before taking Dhabhawi to Najaf, where he is from.