Siham Mustafa works in the studio of Radio Dijla in Sulamaniyah, Iraq, with her son, Rushwan Farad, a producer at the station. (Photo by James Palmer)

SULAMANIYAH, Iraq — Siham Mustafa sits behind the radio microphone and clutches a piece of paper.

She is ready to fight.

Earlier in the morning, al-Qaida had hacked her radio station's Web site and posted a letter vowing "to kill everyone from Radio Dijla." It was the latest act of aggression against the renegade news and talk radio station that has overcome remarkable odds to remain one of the country's few independent voices.

Mustafa, an announcer of 37 years, goes on to read the station's prepared response. Then, she puts down the piece of paper and takes off her glasses.

She pauses — dramatically — before launching into a spontaneous and soulful message.

"Iraq, you are in our hearts. Like the River Dijla, we will never stop!"

For the past 42 months, Radio Dijla, which takes its name from the ancient Tigris River, has provided Iraqis with balanced reporting and a forum for their opinions despite repeated threats and attacks by al-Qaida and others.

As Kareem Yousef, the station manager, puts it: "We have worked to open the minds of the people and let them freely express their thoughts. It's a humanitarian job because it allows people with different backgrounds and viewpoints to try to understand one another."

This mission is exactly what has infuriated its enemies.

On May 3, about two dozen gunmen from a group associated with al-Qaida stormed the station's offices in western Baghdad. Station staffers, armed with a cache of weapons they had stored on the second floor, fought off the attackers but not before one of the station's security guards was killed.

Assailants returned the following evening to loot and burn the building to the ground.

Station staffers, refusing to abandon their work, began posting coverage of the attack and its aftermath on their Web site within 48 hours. Then, nine days later, the station was back live on the air, broadcasting from a new home 225 miles northeast of Baghdad in Sulamaniyah, a city of nearly 1 million in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Ahmed Rikaby, who founded Radio Dijla but now lives in the United Kingdom due to repeated death threats, said the station's perseverance has "severely damaged al-Qaida's pride. They thought they brought us to an end after the attack in Baghdad, but we've grown even bigger since."

Indeed, the station continues to grow.

"We have more freedom and can operate 24 hours a day now, so we have even more listeners," said Yousef, the station manager. He added that since relocating, about 150 people every day have registered on the station's Web site, which counts more than 1 million hits monthly.

Increased protection and security are among the reasons why the station is growing, staffers said.

In Baghdad, the Iraqi military didn't respond to Radio Dijla's pleas for help during the attack in May until the assailants left the scene, according to Yousef. By contrast, Kurdish armed forces known as pesh merga quickly secured the perimeter of the station's offices in Sulamaniyah on the same morning al-Qaida hacked its Web site.

The relative safety of northern Iraq is one reason most of Radio Dijla's 55 employees made the trek. Their only regret is leaving the Iraqi capital.

Yassen Rubai, 40, the station's news editor, said though he has six correspondents reporting from throughout the country, including three in Baghdad, much of the news presented by Radio Dijla is gathered from satellite television and the Internet.

"Journalists want to see things firsthand," Rubai said, "but we can no longer operate in Baghdad."

According to Yousef, Radio Dijla changes its programming every four months. Besides it news shows, the station offers a variety of programming to its diverse audience.

Recently Radio Dijla aired a cooking program called Sinbad's Kitchen featuring recipes for dishes from other Muslim countries. First Review offers critiques of the latest Arabic movies and allows listeners to share their opinions. For an hour every Friday morning veteran broadcaster Mustafa softens her persona to host Kids' Club, where the station's youngest fans phone in to answer trivia. And Amer Al-Waheed rants on all soccer-related topics during Sports Hour, Iraq's version of rabid sports talk.

The deadly strike in May against Radio Dijla, which was staged on World Press Freedom Day, was only one in a long line of offenses against Iraqi reporters. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 97 Iraqi journalists have been killed in the country during the past 55 months.

Compared with what the station has endured in the past, this latest offense targeting its Web site, which occurred at the close of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was considered tame. Along with the threatening message, the flag of al-Qaida and a photo of Osama bin Laden appeared on the homepage of the station's site on Oct. 12. The source was traced to Saudi Arabia.

While Radio Dijla strives to maintain an impartial political and sectarian stance, staffers have decided to speak out against their attackers.

"I know they're listening," Hadi Mehdi, 40, who hosts a series of arts and entertainment shows, said of al-Qaida before he went on the air. "I wish I could deliver my reply to them face-to-face."

In a show of passionate support, fans flooded Radio Dijla's phone lines on the morning al-Qaida sabotaged its Web site.

"May God save you," said a female listener who identified herself as Shayma. "We are with you — Qaida cannot stop you."

A woman from Baghdad who referred to herself as the mother of Ahmed said, "All of the people are with Radio Dijla because Radio Dijla is with all of Iraq."

Despite the continued risks, station staffers are determined to continue working in the name of freedom of speech.

"No one will stop us," Yousef said. "This is the price of our success." 

TOMORROW: A look at the growing cluster of Christian communities in Kurdistan and why they're there.

About the author.

(Many interviews for this report were conducted through a translator. James Palmer wrote this article for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. He can be contacted at j_palmer(at)stratosnet.com.)