British newspaper The Guardian has been ordered to pay Iraq's Prime Minster Nuri al-Maliki thousands of dollars in compensation for printing an article describing him as increasingly autocratic.

Quoting three unnamed members of the Iraqi national intelligence service, the newspaper had claimed that the prime minister was beginning to run Iraqi affairs with an authoritarian hand.

An Iraqi court has upheld a complaint of defamation against the Iraqi politician, ordering the paper to pay him a total amount of $86,000, The Guardian said on Tuesday.

The Guardian says it would appeal against the verdict, labeling the ruling as a further blow against the freedom of Iraq's news media.

"This is a dismaying development. Prime Minister Maliki is trying to construct a new, free Iraq,” said the paper's editor Alan Rusbridger.

“Freedom means little without free speech — and means even less if a head of state tries to use the law of libel to punish criticism or dissent. We will vigorously contest this judgment," he added.

MT/AKM