Iraq has suspended orders to close 44 media operations in the country, including the BBC and Voice of America, after an outcry by press freedom advocates, an official said Tuesday.

The Communications and Media Commission that regulates the news media in Iraq will give the targeted organizations more time to pay outstanding fees and renew lapsed licenses, deputy director Ali Nasir said.

The commission denied that its previous order to close the agencies, most of them Iraqi, represented a crackdown on a free press. No media outlets were known to have been shut down.

The order was issued last month but made public only this week.

The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory welcomed the reprieve on Tuesday, but director Ziyad al-Aajely said media licensing is still too difficult and fees are too high.

"The CMC's task and duty is to support media development, not to put hurdles on the way of the journalists," al-Aajely said