journalist killed – Frontline Club

No Colombian journalists killed in 2008

Graham Holliday — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:52:19 +0000

According to the Foundation for Liberty and Freedom of the Press (FLIP), no Colombian journalists were killed in 2008 for the first time in 23 years,

A total of 130 journalists were killed in Colombia in the past 30 years. The organisation notes that Colombian journalists are still regularly threatened by terrorist organisations. FLIP reports that death threats are still a highly effective way of preventing independent reporting. link

However, 2009 has already got off to a bad start for Colombian journalists. According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, Maria Eugenia Guerrero, a Colombian journalist was found dead on the outskirts of the Ecuadorian city of Tulcannear earlier this month,

[Guerrero] who was working for the Integracion Estereo station in the southern Colombian city of Ipiales, was brutally assaulted and killed and her body was left in a remote area outside Tulcan… The body, according to the forensics report, showed signs of sexual assault and it is presumed the journalist was killed in a violent manner because a portion of her skull was not found and had presumably been detached as a result of a severe blow. link

Death in Madagscar

Graham Holliday — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:46:15 +0000

The Committee to protect journalists (CPJ) requests a probe into the death of Ando Ratovonirina in Madagascar last week. The 26 year old reporter and cameraman was killed while working for Radio Télévision Analamanga at an antigovernment demonstration in the capital, Antananarivo,

"We are shocked by the killing of Ando Ratovonirina and extend our condolences to his family and colleagues," said CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, Tom Rhodes. "President Marc Ravalomanana’s government must immediately investigate the shooting by members of the presidential guard and hold those responsible to account." link

Ratovonirina is the first journalist to have been killed since the CPJ started keeping death records in 1992.

Salam al-Dosaki shot dead in Mosul

Graham Holliday — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:24:11 +0000

Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the al-Hadba newspaper in Mosul, Iraq, was shot dead by a policeman on Thursday afternoon, 5 February according to Reuters,

Mohammed Yunis Mohammed, a Mosul policeman, had been drinking when he approached the home of neighbour Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the local al-Hadba newspaper, police said. An argument ensued between the two men and Mohammed, an Arab, shot and killed Dosaki, a Kurd, on his doorstep. Mohammed was in police custody on Thursday evening, police said. Police said it was a personal dispute. link

Uma Singh hacked to death in Nepal

Graham Holliday — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:32:26 +0000

Uma Singh, a 26 year old Nepalese journalist who worked for a local radio station in Janakpur in western Nepal, was hacked to death when a group of 15 men entered the room she rented in a house on Sunday night. The attack happened in full view of other residents. Singh had a history of writing articles critical of the dowry payment system, reports CNN,

“If the government is not ready to provide any kind of security to journalists, it will be very difficult to do journalism in a free mode,” said Dharmendra Jha, president of the federation… “I am very very shocked… She was my student and I brought her into active journalism… The problem we’re facing is the problem of impunity… There are many armed groups in plain sight. The government has to hold them accountable. Otherwise, we are not safe.” link

CNN goes on to report that there has been an increase in attacks on journalists in recent months,

[The Federation of Nepali Journalists] released a year-end report, recording 284 incidents — including three deaths and a kidnapping. The incidents also include shutting down media outlets, burning copies of magazines and beatings. link

UPDATE: with video link via MyRepublica