36 journalists killed in 2003
NEW YORK – Thirty-six journalists were killed while fulfilling their duties in 2003, more, than a third of them in Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual report released on March 11, 2004.
The Iraqi conflict has left 13 journalists dead, and the global toll was up sharply from 2002 when 19 journalists were killed while working.
Among them four people were killed by US fire including the April 8 US firing on the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad. A CPJ investigation earlier concluded that while not deliberate the deaths could have been, avoided, as the US command was aware of the presence in the building.
On the ground in Iraq reporters face attacks, weapons fire and hold-ups.
But the profession remains risky even in many countries not in war zones, according to the report, which notes the case of five Philippine journalists killed after criticizing or reporting on local corruption, and for Colombian journalists who lost their lives, three of them assassinated.
In Russia, the director of a newspaper that would not back down on a report despite controversy beaten outside his home.
The New York-based CPJ says there were 136 journalists jailed around the world as of December 31.
China has held the record for the past five years with 39 reporters behind bars; it was followed by Cuba, which staged a major crackdown in 2003 that led to the jailing of 29 journalists who were jailed for terms from 14-27 years.
In Iran, the CPJ noted the case of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who was arrested as she took pictures outside a Tehran prison and died after two weeks in detention after receiving blows to the head.
The committee also underÂscored that on the heels of the September 11, 2001 terror strikes on the United States that the antiterror focus of defence and national security bodies had become a justification for reduced freedom of the press in many regions. He noted the arrest of several journalists in Morocco under an antiterrorism law adopted in 2003.
Source: The Nation
Date:3/13/2004
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