Iraq is most dangerous country for journalists
Iraq-UN, Politics, 3/14/2006

Condemning the recent murder of three Iraqi journalists, the top United Nations envoy in Iraq warned today that freedom of the press was an absolute prerequisite for democracy in a country that has become the most dangerous place in the world for journalists.

More than 70 journalists have been killed on duty in Iraq since the war began three years ago.

"Journalists should be granted security and freedom of speech so they can perform their duties," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Ashraf Qazi said, calling on Iraqi security authorities to fully investigate these crimes and bring the perpetrators before the law.

Prominent journalists killed over the last three weeks include Mohsen Khodeir, editor-in chief of the weekly Alef Baa, Amjad Hamid from Al Iraqia TV and Monsef Al Khaldi reporter at Baghdad Satellite TV.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), whose mandate includes the defence of freedom of expression and press freedom, also condemned the latest murders.

"The level of brutality in Iraq has reached appalling proportions," UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said in a statement. "It is essential for the consolidation of democracy and rule of law in Iraq that the authorities do all in their power to improve the safety of media professionals in the country."

In the latest of his frequent condemnations of the murder of journalists around the world that he has issued in recent months, Matsuura today also condemned the murder of a Mexican freelance press photographer shot dead last week in the state of Michoacán.

Jaime Arturo Olvera Bravo, a former correspondent for the Morelia-based daily La Voz de Michoacán, was shot by an unknown gunman while waiting for a bus with his five-year-old son. His son was not hurt. Mr Olvera provided photographs and crime tips to local media on a free-lance basis.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that four Mexican journalists have been killed in direct reprisal for their work in the last five years and that another reporter has been missing since last April and is feared dead.

Reporters Without Borders condemned the murder of television reporter Monsef Al-Khalidi of Baghdad TV, who was shot dead at the wheel of his car by gunmen yesterday on the road from Baghdad to the northern city of Mosul. He was the 83rd journalist to be killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.
 
"Journalists are continuing to pay the price for the appalling situation in Iraq three years after the start of the war," Reporters Without Borders said. "We yet again call on the Iraqi authorities to carry out thorough investigations into these killings in order to quickly establish the circumstances."
 
The organization added: "Our thoughts go out to this reporter's family and his employer. This is the third journalist that Baghdad TV has lost. The previous ones were reporter Maha Ibrahim in July 2005 and cameraman Mahmoud Zaal in January 2006."
 
In addition to the 83 journalists killed since the start of the war, a total of 38 journalists have been kidnapped. Five of them - four Iraqis and one Italian (Enzo Baldoni) - were killed by their abductors. The others were released safe and sound.
 
US journalist Jill Carroll has been held hostage since 7 January. Two Iraqi reporters, Reem Zeid and Marwan Khazaal, have been held hostage since 1 February.
 
The pan-Arab satellite TV station Al-Arabiya is the foreign news organisation that has sustained the highest losses in Iraq. Six of its journalists have been killed. The local TV station Al-Iraqiya is the hardest-hit Iraqi media, with 10 journalists killed.

Previous Stories:
  US government report on Iraq's human rights   (3/13/2006)
  IRAQ: TV presenter murdered, station attacked and threatened for its reporting   (3/10/2006)
  US on Abu Ghraib prison photographs; Guantanamo detainee report   (2/16/2006)
  UN Security Council gives Iraq money to UN, IAEA   (2/14/2006)
  Berlin concerned over fate of its kidnapped in Iraq   (2/2/2006)
  Kidnapped US female journalist calls on Americans to free Iraqi women   (1/31/2006)
  US army releases Reuters cameraman after eight months detention   (1/24/2006)
  US forces release two long-detained journalists   (1/19/2006)
  American journalist Kidnappers in Iraq threaten killing her   (1/18/2006)
  30-year jail term for Kurdish writer for defamation   (1/14/2006)

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