Attacks on the Press in 2003 - Czech Republic
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | February 2004 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press in 2003 - Czech Republic, February 2004, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47c5669cc.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
2003 Documented Cases – Czech Republic
MARCH 26, 2003
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
THREATENED
A senior Czech intelligence official alleged that Iraqi agents planned to carry out an attack against the Prague-based headquarters of U.S. governmentfunded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Jiri Ruzek, director of the State Security Service (BIS), told the Czech Service of the BBC that the purpose of the attack was to terminate the broadcasts of Radio Free Iraq, RFE/RL's Arabic-language service broadcasting news into Iraq.
Ruzek also confirmed that five Iraqi diplomats had recently been expelled from the Czech Republic as a result of their intelligence activity. "We have no new information about a threat against us, but there has been an ongoing threat since we started broadcasting [to Iraq] in 1998," said Sonia Winter, an editor at RFE/RL.
Radio Free Iraq was launched by RFE/RL in 1998. During the last two years, there have been numerous unconfirmed reports that the RFE/RL headquarters was a potential terrorist target. On April 22, 2001, Czech authorities expelled Iraqi diplomat Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani for allegedly surveilling RFE/RL's headquarters as part of a possible terrorist attack on the building. After September 11, 2001, Czech authorities deployed troops and armored personnel carriers outside the RFE/RL building as a security precaution.
