Baghdad moves to halt broadcasts of Iraq's 'Daily Show' in latest attempt to control media

The Communication and Media Commission (CMC) sent a letter to NRT TV on Thursday, demanding the Kurdish-owned broadcaster answer to "repeated violations" committed by The Albasheer Show.

The show mocks powerful Iraqi politicians and the Islamic State group in the spirit of The Daily Show in the United States and often tackles sensitive issues such as government corruption and religious figures.

The communication, which was published on social media, said the programme had committed "many violations against the code of professional media conduct" and demanded the channel provide information on its contract with the Albasheer show.

In the latest episode of the show, which is filmed in the Jordanian capital Amman, host Ahmed al-Basheer acknowledged the calls to ban the programme.

"As of now, we have no certain information on this, but we will see what pans out during the coming week and in the next episode we will delve into the topic," Basheer said.

The is not the first time the comedian's programme, which is aired on NRT TV and the Arabic-language service of German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle, has been the target of Baghdad.

In May last year, Iraq's Shia-led authorities closed the local TV channel al-Baghdadia and ordered a halt to broadcasts of the show, citing violations to the code of professional conduct.

A month prior, independent channel al-Sumaria was forced to take the programme off the air.

Dozens of Iraqis took to the streets in the holy Shia city of Najaf late on Friday to protest the move to end broadcasts of the show once again.

Demonstrators held up placards demanding authorities protect freedom of expression and end censorship of the media.

Last year, Iraq revoked the operating permits of Qatar-based Al Jazeera, and shut down its Baghdad office.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Iraq 158 out of 180 in its 2017 World Press Freedom Index.