Reporters Without Borders’ tally of journalists and media assistants killed in Iraq has passed the 100-mark.
The press freedom group reported that the grim landmark was passed after the death of a TV reporter – apparently targeted specifically because he was a journalist.
RSF reported that Iraqi Adel Naji Al Mansouri, the Baghdad correspondent for Iranian TV station Al Alam, was kidnapped whilst returning to his Baghdad home and then shot. He had reportedly already received death theats.
An RSF spokesman said: “One hundred journalists and media assistants killed in three years is appalling.
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“No armed conflict since the Second World War has been so deadly for the press. The Iraqi government must do everything possible to identify and punish those responsible for these atrocities. It is unacceptable that nothing has yet been done to shed light on these increasingly commonplace murders and that no measures have been taken to protect journalists in Iraq.”
Reporters Without Borders added: “Our thoughts go out to the Mansouri’s family and employers and we assure them of our entire solidarity.”
Last week there were three other Iraqi journalists were murdered in Iraq – according to both the International Federation of Journalists and RSF.
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The IFJ estimates that 135 journalists and other media staff have been killed since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Picture (Reuters): Iraqi civilians carry away a victim of a bombing outside a courthouse in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, which killed 20 civilians.
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