Iraq3 May 2005
The war in Iraq : the most deadly one for the media since Vietnam
56 journalists and media assistants killed, 29 kidnapped
Iraq is the world's most dangerous country for journalists and the place where the most are kidnapped. 56 journalists and media assistants have been killed there since the fighting began on 22 March 2003 and 29 kidnapped.
The Iraq conflict is the deadliest inter-state war for journalists since the one in Vietnam, when 63 were killed, but over a period of 20 years (1955-75). During the fighting in the former Yugoslavia (1991-95), 49 journalists were killed doing their job.
57 journalists and 20 media assistants were killed in Algeria between 1993 and 1996 but this was during an internal (civil) war.
The media was targeted from the first day of the fighting in Iraq, when cameraman Paul Moran, of the Australian TV network ABC, was killed by a car bomb on 22 March 2003. Eleven journalists and media assistants were killed in March and April that year. The situation then gradually improved until early the following year, when bomb blasts and attacks by armed groups increased throughout the country, with nine killed in May 2004. Almost every month since then, one or two journalists have been killed, nine of them so far this year.
This report highlights these journalists, who were murdered for simply doing their job. What media outlets did they work for and what were the circumstances of their death ?
It also gives an update on those who have been kidnapped (more than in any other war), who include nationals of many countries, some of which are not involved in the fighting.
Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public and to be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Without Borders has nine national sections (in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), representatives in Abidjan, Bangkok, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and Washington and more than a hundred correspondents worldwide.
Poster Comment:
65 journalists and media assistants killed since the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003, two still missing65 have been killed since March 2003 while doing their job.
Two other journalists are still missing :
Frédéric Néracof ITV News (UK), since 22 March 2003 |
| Isam Hadi Muhsin Al-ShumarySuedostmedia, 15 August 2004 |
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48 Journalists killed
02.08.05 - Steven Vincent, freelance journalist
22.06.2005 - Yasser Al Salihy, Knight Ridder
03.07.2005 - Maha Ibrahim, Baghdad TV
01.07.2005 - Khaled Sabih al Attar, al-Iraqia
28.06.2005 - Wael Al Bakri, Al Charkiyah
22.06.05 - Jassim Al Qais, Al Siyada
15.05.2005 - Najem Abed Khodair, Al-Madaa and Tariq al-Shaab
15.05.2005 - Ahmad Adam, Al-Madaa and Sabah
23.04.2005 - Saleh Ibrahim, Associated Press
15.04.2005 - Shamal Abdallah Assad, Kirkuk TV, Kurdsat
14.04.2005 - Ali Abrahim Aissa, Al-Hurriya TV
14.04.2005 - Fadel Hazem Fadel, Al-Hurriya TV
01.04.2005 - Ahmed Jabbar Hashim, Al Sabah
14.03.2005 - Houssam Hilal Sarsam, Kurdistan-TV
10.03.2005 - Laik Ibrahim, Kurdistan-TV
25.02.2005 - Raeda Mohammed Wageh Wazzan, Iraqiya
09.02.2005 - Abdel Hussein Khazaal, Al-Hurra TV
01.11.2004 - Dhia Najim, Reuters
27.10.2004 - Liqaa Abdul-Razzaq, Al-Sharqiya
14.10.2004 - Karam Hussein, European Pressphoto Agency
14.10.2004 - Dina Mohamad Hassan, Al Hurriya Television
7.10.2004 - Ahmad Jassem, Nivive television
12.09.2004 - Mazen al-Tomaizi, Al-Arabiya
26.08.2004 - Enzo Baldoni, Diario della settimana
15.08.2004 - Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, ZDF
15.08.2004 - Hossam Ali, freelance
03.06.2004 - Sahar Saad Eddine Nouami, Al-Mizan, Al-Khaima, Al-Hayat Al-Gadida
27.05.2004 - Kotaro Ogawa, Nikkan Gendai
27.05.2004 - Shinsuke Hashida, Nikkan Gendai
07.05.2004 - Waldemar Milewicz, TVP
07.05.2004 - Mounir Bouamrane, TVP
19.04.2004 - Assad Kadhim, Al-Iraqiya TV
26.03.2004 - Bourhan Mohammad al-Louhaybi, ABC News
18.03.2004 - Ali Al-Khatib, Al-Arabiya
18.03.2004 - Ali Abdel Aziz, Al-Arabiya
18.03.2004 - Nadia Nasrat, Diyala Television
28.10.2003 - Ahmed Shawkat, Bila Ittijah
17.08.2003 - Mazen Dana, Reuters
02.07.2003 - Ahmad Karim, Kurdistan Satellite TV
08.04.2003 - José Couso, Tele 5
08.04.2003 - Taras Protsyuk, Reuters
08.04.2003 - Tarek Ayoub, Al Jazeera
07.04.2003 - Christian Liebig, Focus
07.04.2003 - Julio Anguita Parrado, El Mundo
04.04.2003 - Michael Kelly, Washington Post
02.04.2003 - Kaveh Golestan, BBC
23.03.2003 - Terry Lloyd, ITV News
22.03.2003 - Paul Moran, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
17 Media assistants killed
23.07.2005 - Adnan Al Bayati, Rai, Mediaset, TG3 and Panorama
02.09.2004 - Ismaïl Taher Mohsin, Associated Press
25.08.2004 - Jamal Tawfiq Salmane, Gazeta Wyborcza
29.05.2004 - Mahmoud Ismael Daood, bodyguard, Al-Sabah al-Jadid
29.05.2004 - Samia Abdeljabar, driver, Al-Sabah al-Jadid
27.05.2004 - Unknown, translator
25.05.2004 - Unknown, translator
21.05.2004 - Rachid Hamid Wali, cameraman assistant, Al-Jazira
29.04.2004 - Hussein Saleh, driver, Al-Iraquiya TV
26.03.2004 - Omar Hashim Kamal, translator, Time
18.03.2004 - Majid Rachid, technician, Diyala Television
18.03.2004 - Mohamad Ahmad, security agent, Diyala Television
27.01.2004 - Duraid Isa Mohammed, producer and translator, CNN
27.01.2004 - Yasser Khatab, driver, CNN
07.07.2003 - Jeremy Little, sound engineer, NBC
06.04.2003 - Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, translator, BBC
22.03.2003 - Hussein Othman, translator, ITV News