Three journalists killed in Iraq
Iraq-USA, Politics, 4/9/2007

The fourth anniversary of the still unexplained killing of three journalists by the United States troops in Baghdad on 8 April 2003 will be marked this weekend following a week of shocking attacks on journalists, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a statement Friday.

Thursday saw the brutal assassination of Khamaail Mohsin, a mother of three and journalist with Radio Free Iraq, the US funded Radio station in Arabic, and the bombing of the Iraqi satellite channel Baghdad TV, killing the station's Deputy Director, Thaer Ahmad Jaber, himself the father of seven daughters, and trainee journalist Husain Nizaer.

The television station blast - a suicide bombing involving a garbage truck packed with explosives - also injured 11 staff, three of whom remain in a critical situation.

Further news emerged Friday of the killing of a fourth journalist, Othman al-Mashhadani, a reporter for the Saudi newspaper Al Watan, who had been kidnapped on Wednesday. His body was found in Baghdad.

These deaths bring to 23 the number of Iraqi media killed in 2007 alone. At least 196 journalists and media workers have died in Iraq since the US invasion four years ago.

The deaths cast a shadow over celebrations organized Thursday by Iraqi Journalists Syndicate in solidarity with the victims of violence.

The syndicate handed over more than $80,000 to 120 families of media victims.

The Iraqi government donated $40,000, matching $33,000 raised by member unions of the International Federation of Journalists through a special Iraqi Humanitarian Fund set up last year. A further 8,000 USD contribution came from the Oil Ministry.

Meanwhile, the IFJ and its national journalists unions around the world renewed calls for the United States to provide credible reports over a number of media deaths at the hands of US soldiers in Iraq and, in particular, the killing of three journalists on April 8th 2003.

Sunday marks the fourth anniversary of the attack by US troops on the Palestine Hotel, which housed scores of media personnel, killing Taras Protsyuk of Reuters and Jose Cuoso, of the Telecinco network in Spain. On the same morning, journalist Tareq Ayyoub was killed when the Baghdad offices of the Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera were attacked by US fighter planes.

"Four years on still no credible reports have been produced to explain these attacks and no one has been held to account for the killings," said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White.

"The United States must answer questions that are still asked over these deaths and many others at the hands of their troops in Iraq. With the number of media casualties growing daily, impunity becomes intolerable, particularly when it concerns the actions of those who speak in the name of democracy and human rights." The Brussels-based IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries worldwide.

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