The Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat said on Monday it fired its Baghdad correspondent, a day after printing controversial accusations wrongly attributed to a UN spokesman. The report drew condemnation from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and several other leading Shia figures and bodies demanding an apology.
The sacking of the journalist, who was not named, came after the paper ran an article Sunday accusing Iranian pilgrims taking part in the Shia Muslim commemoration of Arbaeen of sexually harassing women. The article quoted a World Health Organisation spokesman as saying that after last year's pilgrimage more than 169 Iraqi women became pregnant out of wedlock.
The UN's health agency said the "claim that this information was released by a WHO headquarters communications officer is completely erroneous." The London-based daily paper published the WHO statement on Monday in what it said was evidence of "its commitment towards the truth... and to correct the erroneous information contained in (Sunday's) report".