31 May 2007

Alert

Four journalists killed in less than a week by armed groups; RSF calls for special task force to tackle violence against press


Incident details

Aidan Abdallah Al-Jamiji, Mahmud Hassib Al-Kassab, Abdel-Rahman Al-Issawi, Nizar Al-Radhi

journalist(s)

killed

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(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced deep shock at the murders of four Iraqi journalists by armed groups within a space of five days. The body of a local TV station employee was found in the boot of his car in the northern city of Kirkuk on 26 May 2007. A Turkmen journalist was killed in Kirkuk on 28 May. Gunmen burst into the home of a journalism teacher and contributor to several media outlets in Amariyah, near Fallujah, on 29 May, killing him and seven members of his family. A Shiite journalist was fatally shot on 30 May in the southern town of Amara.

"The Iraqi authorities must fulfil their duty to protect journalists," Reporters Without Borders said. "We call for the creation of a special force within the national police to identify the perpetrators and instigators of killings of journalists and to organise awareness campaigns about the protection of journalists for all the Iraqi security forces and for the public. To help the investigators, a witness protection programme should also be set up with the help of countries in the region."

Police said the body of Aidan Abdallah Al-Jamiji, who was in charge of Kirkuk television's Turkmen-language section and who was also a well-known local musician, was found on 26 May in the boot of his car, which had been torched and dumped near the cemetery in Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad.

Mahmud Hassib Al-Kassab, the editor of the weekly "Al-Hawadith" and a member of Inkad Al-Turkman (the Turkmen Salvation Movement), was gunned down outside his home in the northern part of Kirkuk on 28 May. A local newspaper said he had been injured six weeks ago when a hand grenade was thrown at him in an apparent murder attempt.

Abdel-Rahman Al-Issawi, 34, a journalism professor at Baghdad university and contributor to several newspapers, was killed along with seven members of his family (including his wife, son, father and mother) when gunmen stormed into his home in Amariyah, near Fallujah, on 29 May and opened fire.

Nizar Al-Radhi, 38, an employee of the independent news agency Aswat Al-Irak (Voices of Iraq) and correspondent since last year for Radio Free Iraq, was fatally shot and several of his colleagues were wounded on 30 May when three gunmen in a pickup opened fire on a group of journalists who had gone to a news conference outside the city hall in Amara (365 km south of Baghdad).

In the Philippines, where six journalists were killed last year, the authorities have created a Task Force to handle crimes of violence against members of the news media. This specialised unit establishes a relationship with the families of the victims and protects people who come forward as witnesses.



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Updates to this story

Journalist shot dead in Baghdad, new developments in three other deaths 4 June 2007

At a glance

Iraq
Iraq
 
Key reports and information
  • Iraq’s Information Crimes Law

    Badly Written Provisions and Draconian Punishments Violate Due Process and Free Speech

    Human Rights Watch 12 July 2012

  • World Report 2012: Iraq

    "In April Iraq’s parliament approved a Journalists’ Protection Law, intended to protect media workers and compensate them for injuries sustained while working"

    Human Rights Watch 22 February 2012

  • Attacks on the Press in 2011: Iraq

    Iraq's impunity rate, "three times worse than any other nation"

    Committee to Protect Journalists 22 February 2012

  • Press Freedom Index 2011-2012: Iraq

    Iraq fell 22 places, from 130th to 152nd in annual press freedom index

    Reporters Without Borders 25 January 2012

 
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