The Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundación para libertad de la prensa, FLIP), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) are investigating the reported murders of two journalists in India and Colombia this week to determine whether they were killed because of their work.

In India, local newspapers reported that Indra Mohan Hakasam, missing since June 2003, had been killed in Assam province, say IFJ and RSF. A reporter for the daily newspaper "Amar Assam" in the town of Guwahati, Hakasam was kidnapped on 24 June by two members of the United Liberation Front of Assam, a separatist rebel group.

His family has not been given valid proof of his reported death by the proper authorities, notes IFJ. The Journalists' Union of Assam staged a protest on 21 November to demand information from authorities about Hakasam.

In Colombia, authorities are investigating the reported killing of José Nel Muñoz in Puerto Libertad, Putumayo, on 5 October 2003. Nel Muñoz's body was found with apparent signs of torture, FLIP says.

For more information on these cases, visit:

- IFEX: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/55150/

- IFJ: http://www.ifj-asia.org/

- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8597

- FLIP: http://www.flip.org.co/