Murder of sports reporter brings Iraq toll to 296
A SPORTS journalist with Al-Baghdadia TV was killed by a bomb attached to his car in Mosul on May 31. The death of Alaa Abdel-Wahab brings the total number of journalists killed since the war began to 296. The blast also injured Sultan Jerjis, a sports presenter with local radio station Al-Rasheed.
US forces are coming under increasing pressure to release Reuters camera operator Ibrahim Jassam, who has been in custody in Iraq since last September. A court ordered he be released in November but the US military insist he is a security threat.
Union leaders from around the world attended a Journalism Summit in Baghdad in May — the first international meeting of journalists in Iraq since the war began.
Organised by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate and the International Federation of Journalists, the event saw panel discussions on subjects such as ethical journalism and the culture of impunity surrounding journalists’ murders.
NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear attended the conference. He said: “If the courage and commitment we saw from so many ordinary Iraqi journalists is anything to go by they will struggle for their freedom and independence from the occupiers, the government and all those factions who seek to control the message.”