(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for a thorough and transparent investigation into a 5 April 2005 incident near the northern city of Mosul in which US soldiers shot and wounded a freelance cameraman working for the US television network CBS News. The organisation noted that it is not the first time US soldiers have shot […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for a thorough and transparent investigation into a 5 April 2005 incident near the northern city of Mosul in which US soldiers shot and wounded a freelance cameraman working for the US television network CBS News.
The organisation noted that it is not the first time US soldiers have shot a cameraman after mistaking his camera for a gun. Mazen Dana, a Palestinian working for the British news agency Reuters, was killed in a similar fashion on 17 August 2003, in Baghdad. The US army claimed that the soldiers involved in the shooting had acted “according to the rules of engagement” (see IFEX alerts of 24 September, 19 and 18 August 2003).
“Once again, the US forces have targeted a journalist who was simply doing his job,” RSF said. “We again call on this same army to be more vigilant and discerning in order to avoid these unacceptable blunders.”
The cameraman was injured in the hip during an exchange of fire between Iraqi insurgents and members of the First Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. In a statement issued by the Pentagon, the US Army said soldiers fired at a rebel who was “waving an AK-47 [assault rifle] and inciting a crowd of civilians.”
During the incident, “an individual [who] appeared to have a weapon [and] who was standing near the insurgent was shot and injured. This individual turned out to be a reporter who was pointing a video camera. Regretfully, the reporter was injured during the complex and volatile situation,” the statement said, adding that the incident was being investigated.
The journalist, whom CBS News would not name for his own protection, was taken to a US military hospital for treatment. The US Army described his injuries as minor.
At least 51 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003, RSF said.
Three journalists were killed by the US army in a single day, on 8 April 2003. Al-Jazeera cameraman Tarek Ayoub, 35, was killed during a US air raid when a missile hit Al-Jazeera’s bureau. Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian normally based in Warsaw, was killed when the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad came under fire. Spanish cameraman José Couso, 37, who worked for the Spanish television station Telecinco, was wounded in the same shooting and died on the operating table. The places targeted were all known to be used by journalists but the US army investigation brazenly cleared all those involved (see alerts of 8 November and 15 January 2004, 18 November, 10 October, 13 August and 8 April 2003).
