Guardian says being sued by Iraqi intelligence

Iraq's intelligence service is suing the Guardian newspaper for defamation, after it ran a story describing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's administration as "increasingly autocratic," the newspaper said. In a report on Wednesday, the newspaper said Maliki had called for legal action after it quoted three unnamed Iraqi National Intelligence Service members saying "elements of Maliki's rule resembled a dictatorship." "We are disappointed that prime minister Maliki has launched this misguided action against the Guardian. We will, of course, contest it," the Guardian's editor in chief Alan Rusbridger said in the report. The Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) is demanding $1 million (626,000 pounds) in damages and the disclosure of the unnamed sources, the Guardian said. The newspaper said it had refused to reveal its sources and had hired an Iraqi lawyer. The Iraqi government initially ordered the closure of the Guardian's Baghdad office, but it had since backed away from the threat, the newspaper said. The Iraqi government's spokesman distanced the prime minister from the INIS's legal action, but said Maliki was keen for the "law to take its course." "We respect the Guardian a lot, but it needs to observe professional standards," Ali al-Dabbagh said, adding that Maliki had intervened to ensure the Guardian's Baghdad office stayed open. Iraqi state bodies have ordered the closure of media outlets before and often threaten legal action when angered by their stories, but the threats are rarely carried out.