After the attack on its headquarters by supporters of the Sadrist movement earlier this month, "Al-Rabea" TV evaluated the size of the losses experienced by the channel and demanded giving protection to the media and using legal procedures to object to media content.

To learn more about how journalists were treated after the storming and what challenges the channel encountered when it returned to the air, the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) reached out to a channel official.

In response to questions and thoughts provided by Mona Sami regarding the Mahdi Army faction, members of the Sadrist movement invaded the channel's offices in Baghdad and took possession of its materials, temporarily suspending the channel's broadcast.

As well as destroying the editing room entirely, the break-in did extensive damage to the broadcasting equipment and the broadcasting room as a whole.

The official in the channel described it, "the focus was on the newsroom, where it incurred the worst damage," adding that "more than 10 computers in the newsroom were entirely destroyed along with other electronics, windows, and doors".

"Al-Rabea radio, housed in the same building, was also destroyed, along with its equipment," he noted.

"No damage was caused on the studios because they are in another spot remote from the broadcasting building that was attacked," the source said.

When asked about the channel's financial losses, he said, "The size of the losses suffered by the channel is estimated at no less than $400,000," adding that "if the damage reached the studios, the losses would now be more than $2 million," but that the separation of the studios and the broadcasting building helped keep the amount of damage to a minimum.

He continued, "The administration of Al-Rabea initiated a campaign to reconstruct the damaged building," stressing that the management of the channel is still fearful of another attack, especially after hearing the remark "if you return, we will return."

The source stated that "security reinforcements are in place to secure the channel's headquarters, but what the channel really needs is to persuade the political parties to oppose the content using legal means."

He said, "Al-Rabea filed a lawsuit against the commander of the riot police stationed in front of the channel, who told us at the time that he would not protect the channel if an apology were not issued to the demonstrators, indicating evident cooperation with the intruders."