(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has firmly condemned the 9 February 2005 murder of Abdel Hussein Khazaal, a correspondent for the United States-financed, Arabic-language television station Al-Hurra, who was gunned down outside his home in the southern city of Basra. His three-year-old son, who was with him, was also killed. “This horrible act serves as a reminder […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has firmly condemned the 9 February 2005 murder of Abdel Hussein Khazaal, a correspondent for the United States-financed, Arabic-language television station Al-Hurra, who was gunned down outside his home in the southern city of Basra. His three-year-old son, who was with him, was also killed.
“This horrible act serves as a reminder that Iraq is the world’s most dangerous country for journalists, with 32 killed since the start of the war in March 2003. We have the impression that Khazaal was targeted because he worked for a US television station. But, in doing so, his killers are not helping the population, they are slowly killing off news reporting in Iraq, and in the end, it is the Iraqis who will pay,” RSF warned.
The organisation called on the Iraqi interim government to conduct a swift and serious investigation to identify those responsible for the killing.
On 9 February, at about 9:00 a.m. (local time), Khazaal, aged 40, and his son Mohammed were slain by gunmen as they were leaving their home in the Maqal neighbourhood of Basra, 550 km south of Baghdad. Khazaal also headed the press department at the Basra city council and was a member of the Shiite party Dawa. He had been in exile under Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Khazaal’s last report for Al-Hurra (“The Free”) focused on the 30 January elections. Launched in February 2004, the television station has been branded as an American propaganda tool by a number of imams.
Of a total of at least 32 journalists and 15 media assistants killed in Iraq since the start of the war, 26 have been Iraqi.
