On (13/2/2024), the House of Representatives held its seventh session of the first legislative term of the third legislative year of the fifth electoral cycle under the chairmanship of the First Vice-Speaker Mr. Mohsen Al-Mandalawi in the presence of (169) Representatives , and the session included:



-The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, expressed his thanks to the President of the Iraqi Media Network for his commitment to attend the interrogation session addressed to him by Representative Raed Al-Maliki.

- The beginning of the interrogation the Representatives Al-Maliki inquired about the violation of the Iraqi Media Network Law on conflict of interest through the ownership of  the head of the network's wife of a media production and distribution company.

- Mr. Nabil Jassim explained that the network law includes a conflict of interest in the event of any physical work with the network, denying the existence of any business at all, neither with the Iraqi Media Network nor with any government department or other companies, stressing the existence of two companies in the name of Ishtar Advertising Gate and Adwaa Al-Iraqiya General Trading Limited Liability and they were established in 2005 and 2009 according to the Registrar of Companies and before I took over the position of head of the network, pointing out that they are ineffective companies and do not have business with The network or other departments, especially since I submitted my financial clearance and the registrar of the two companies when I was appointed as head of the network and there was no objection from the Integrity Commission on my financial disclosure, in addition to the absence of objection from the competent sectoral authority, and that the integrity judge issued a ruling to close the case related to the ownership of the company.

- The Representative Al-Maliki pointed out in another question that there is a violation of the network's law in Chapter IV due to the ownership of a rights center to support freedom of expression, the exploitation of the network's media training institute building, and the publication of the center's news on its channels.

- Mr. Nabil Jassim indicated that there is no financial or commercial business between the Media Network and the Rights Center, especially since it is a non-profit organization specialized in providing free courses for the public interest, and this does not contradict the law of the network, noting that the Iraqi Media Network has previously covered the activities of the Center in another time, especially that the Center grants training courses in combating shadowed news for free, and the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Tourism and Antiquities has a notification of the activities of the Rights Center, indicating that the judiciary Close a previous similar complaint filed by the Board of Trustees for the invalidity of the claim.

- Representative Al-Maliki inquired about the work of Mr. Nabil Jassem, editor-in-chief of Ishtar magazine, supervised by the head of the regime's son, as it is one of the regime's media institutions and the promotion of its policy, and this contradicts the tasks of the Iraqi Media Network at the present time.

- The head of the Iraqi Media Network confirmed in his response that his work in Ishtar magazine was not a secret, but was recorded in my CV before I took office, and the magazine was of an artistic and cultural nature and did not deal with political topics and work in it did not require belonging to the dissolved Baath Party, and this charge is fabricated at the time by the previous Board of Trustees for the purpose of ending my assignment and the Iraqi judiciary closed the complaint filed against me, pointing out that the responsibility for publishing pictures of the tyrant did not fall on the shoulders of Editor-in-Chief Rather, the pictures were printed on all educational curricula, noting that "I did not include the procedures of the issue and justice during the appointment and according to the law of the Iraqi Media Network after checking my CV and the Integrity Commission and the Parliamentary Culture Committee were informed in advance of it, which is fabricated by the Board of Trustees and its validity has not been proven by legal evidence".

- It was inquired about the fact that the head of the network caused a major security breach in maintaining the confidentiality of documents for the 2021 parliamentary elections in the presence of people outside the network's owners and supervisors of printing sensitive materials in the printing press of the Iraqi Media Network after contracting with the Electoral Commission to print the names of voters for the public and private register.

- Mr. Nabil Jassim stated that the Electoral Commission was printing the voter register outside Iraq and assigning the media network to this work is a source of pride for us and an achievement for a national institution by printing lists of names such as the voter register, the introductory booklet, the complaints form and the interrogators' booklet, pointing out that the Electoral Commission's contract says that the printed materials are not sensitive and the printing process was subject to the monitoring of the Iraqi security services, led by the Baghdad Operations Command, and no security breach was recorded, pointing out that they received a letter of thanks and appreciation from the Electoral Commission for the efforts made by the Iraqi Media Network in record time to print the required materials, noting the use of dozens of skilled workers and other printing presses, especially that the printing presses of state departments are unable to print these quantities and the required efficiency, stressing to inform the parliamentary committees of culture and integrity of these procedures, demanding the formation of an official higher committee to investigate the accusation against him.

- Representative Raed al-Maliki inquired about the Iraqi Media Network printing the illustrated encyclopedia of civilization Iraq without taking into account the contracting controls and your claim to print it in the media network while the printing process took place in Tehran.

- Mr. Jassim pointed out in his response, that this achievement is the first work of its kind in the history of the Iraqi state and has been working on it for two years to show Iraq's civilized image for archival purposes, stressing that no contract was concluded between the Iraqi Media Network and any external party regarding the contract, but it was printed in the printing presses of the Iraqi Media Network and the purchase of work requirements from the local market.

 - Representative Al-Maliki asked a question regarding the violation of the head of the network of its law by not implementing the decisions of the Board of Trustees to approve its recommendations? And related to the case of harassment of the office of the head of the network's director in one of the media.
 
- Mr. Nabil Jassim in his response explained that the Board of Trustees of the Iraqi Media Network does not issue investigative decisions and the network is not obliged to respond to them, at a time when the validity of what was alleged against the charge has not been proven by the Board of Trustees and it was not a committee to investigate, but it was a hearing committee, noting the issuance of a judicial decision acquitting the director of the office of the head of the Iraqi Media Network of the charge.

- Representative Raed al-Maliki was surprised in his question about the exploitation of the head of the network for his position by not publishing the news of his interrogation in the network's channels since his notification until today, in addition to his reluctance to publish the agenda of the House of Representatives session related to the interpellation, and this is considered a deliberate order by the head of the network and contributes to shading public opinion.
 
- The head of the network indicated that the question was not accurate, especially since the Iraqi Media Network has a cooperation document with the media department of the House of Representatives, under which it was obligated to publish all news and activities of the House after the approval of sending it from the authorized in the media department to avoid publishing unofficial news and regarding the interrogation, the media department sent on January 29 the agenda of the session and it was published in the Iraqi News Agency and referred to the interpellation paragraph, as well as broadcasting the session of the House on Al-Iraqiya channel as received from The media department in all its details, including the postponement of the subject of interrogation, in addition to the fact that Al-Iraqiya channel broadcasts the activities of the House for a full hour.

-  Representative Raed al-Maliki  wondered about the failure of the head of the network to respond to a letter from the office of  Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives four months ago regarding the request for important information about the interpellation, which is contrary to the House of Representatives law.

- Mr. Jassim confirmed the receipt of a letter from the Office of the First Vice-Speaker  of the House of Representatives on 26/9/2023 attached to the interrogation questions, indicating that the book did not include confirmation of answering it, stressing the commitment of the Iraqi Media Network to answer all books issued by the House of Representatives.

- At the end of the interrogation, Representative Raed al-Maliki expressed his dissatisfaction with the answers of Mr. Nabil Jassim, head of the Iraqi Media Network, content with this amount of questions.

- At the end of the session, in the presence of 185 Representatives , the House voted not to be convinced of the answers of the head of the Iraqi Media Network.

It was then decided to adjourn the session