Warrants were issued last month for Munir Haddad and Sarmad al-Taie, apparently for criticizing
Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
, under an article of the criminal code that prohibits defaming or insulting government employees.
A local press watchdog said the warrant for Taie, who writes a regular column for the al-Mada newspaper and is a frequent guest on television current affairs programs, was the first against a journalist since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Maliki's front man declined to confirm the premier's office had filed the case.
Haddad, who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death in 2006 and is now a private lawyer, turned himself in last week after being told of the warrant. He was subsequently released on bail.
"The person who filed a case against me was Nouri al-Maliki, accusing me of libel," Haddad said, telling Agence La Belle France Presse the original warrant was issued on January 8.
"I did not attack him, I was just practicing my freedom of expression by criticizing the government's performance... I am not against the prime minister, I am not his competitor, I do not have any political allegiance, I do not want to replace him, and I do not want to be in the government."
Haddad gave no details on the specific comments he made to trigger the accusation, and did not say when he would next appear in court.
Another warrant was issued for Taie, according to Ziad al-Ajili, head of the Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
-based Journalism Freedom Observatory.
"The government has filed a legal case against Sarmad al-Taie because of the opinions he expressed on television," Ajili told AFP, adding the warrant was apparently the first issued against a news hound since Saddam's overthrow.
"This is far away from international standards of freedom of opinion and expression."
Maliki's front man Ali Moussawi declined to say whether or not the premier had initiated the legal case, but said: "Maliki is like any citizen. He goes to the courts to defend his rights. What is the problem?"
"This is a boost for the judiciary. Everybody, even the prime minister, is subject to the law."
Iraq is routinely criticized for its poor record on media rights -- it frequently scores towards the bottom of press freedom rankings, and ranks first in the Committee to Protect Journalists' Impunity Index, which tracks unsolved murders of journalists.