295 IRAQI JOURNALISTS KILLED IN SIX YEARS
TWO TV journalists died when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Abu Ghraib near Baghdad on March 11. They were reporter Haider Hashim and camera operator Suhaib Adnan of the news channel Al-Baghdadiya. 53 other people were killed.
Among the wounded were four staffers from the Iraqi state channel Iraqiya TV.
The Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate says that the attack raised the number of journalists killed since March 2003 to 295.
THE IRAQI TV journalist world-renowned for hurling his shoes at US George W Bush last December, was sentenced to three years in jail in March (story last issue). Muntadhar al-Zeidi, aged 30, is also a correspondent for al-Baghdadiya TV.
The International Federation of Journalists called for his release, saying his action was a desperate act to protest over injustice suffered by Iraqi citizens, including journalists, during the US-led occupation.
“He has already been in custody too long over a matter which is more of embarrassment than of seriously violent behaviour,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White.