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IFJ: American soldiers have
killed 17 media staff in Iraq |
07/08/2005
The International Federation of Journalists last Friday called on the United States to investigate three new cases of journalists killed in Iraq over the past week – all of them at the hands of United States soldiers.
The first reported victim is Yasser Salihee, an Iraqi special correspondent for the United States media company Knight Ridder, who was shot to death in Baghdad on June 24, apparently by a US sniper.
On Sunday June 26, Maha Ibrahim, a news editor with the local Baghdad TV channel, owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party, was on her way to work when she was killed when US troops opened fire after they apparently came under attack in a Baghdad neighbourhood.
And on June 28, US troops reportedly killed Ahmed Wael Bakri, a programme director for al-Sharqiya television when he drove near a US convoy in Baghdad.
The IFJ says this brings to 17 the number of journalists and media staff killed by US soldiers since the invasion of Iraq.
“All of these cases need to be investigated independently because they involve reports of action by US troops,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “Most of the 85 deaths of media staff since the invasion are the responsibility of insurgents and terrorists, but a growing number concern US forces and each of these cases must be fully explained.”
Of the 85 media deaths in Iraq since the invasion, 65 are local Iraqi journalists and media staff. |
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