16 March 2005
BUREAU CHIEF, CAMERA OPERATOR KILLED
In Iraq, conditions for journalists continue to be fraught with danger. Last week, a camera operator and a senior reporter from a Kurdish television station were killed, bringing the death toll to 51 journalists killed since March 2003, according to Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).
On 13 February 2005, Hussam Hilal Sarsam was shot and killed while attempting to escape his abductors in the city of Mosul. Sarsam, 27, was a camera operator for Kurdistan-TV, the satellite television station run by the Kurdistan Democratic Party. He had been kidnapped earlier by unidentified assailants, who tried unsuccessfully to use him to abduct other journalists from Kurdistan-TV.
Sarsam's murder came four days after Kurdistan-TV's bureau chief in Kirkuk, Laik Ibrahim, was gunned down while on his way to work. RSF says at least 51 journalists and media support staff have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Visit these links:
- RSF:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12861
- Committee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/gulf03/iraq_conflict_main.html
- International News Safety Institute: http://www.newssafety.com/
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