(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the 14 October fatal shootings of two Iraqi journalists in Iraq. Television journalist Dina Mohammed Hassan was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad as she was leaving for work. Photographer Karam Hussein was gunned down outside his home in the northern city of Mosul. “We are extremely disturbed by […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the 14 October fatal shootings of two Iraqi journalists in Iraq. Television journalist Dina Mohammed Hassan was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad as she was leaving for work. Photographer Karam Hussein was gunned down outside his home in the northern city of Mosul.
“We are extremely disturbed by the circumstances of these killings, which have the hallmarks of targeted murders,” the organisation said.
“Many Iraqi journalists have been killed since the start of the year, some probably because they were working for foreign news media, others simply because they were journalists and armed groups that do not respect free expression are trying to intimidate the entire news profession,” RSF added.
The organisation asked Iraq’s interim government to conduct swift and thorough investigations with the aim of identifying those responsible for these killings and preventing similar incidents in the future.
It also reiterated the principle that “journalists are neutral observers whose work must be protected and respected in order to ensure that news reporting is as free and thorough as possible.”
Hassan, who was gunned down in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Adhamiya, worked for Al-Hurriya, a television station run by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The PUK is headed by Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani (see previous IFEX alert of 15 October 2004).
Hussein, 22, had been working for the past three months for the Frankfurt-based European Pressphoto Agency (EPA). He previously worked for Associated Press (AP). Reached in Frankfurt, EPA editor-in-chief Cengiz Seren said four gunmen were waiting for him outside his home and shot him in cold blood before fleeing.
Iraq continues to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for the news media. At least 29 journalists and 15 other media workers have been killed there since the war began in March 2003.
