Iraqi TV reporter abducted in Baghdad
Baghdad, 17 November 2007 ( Voices of Iraq )
Sources from al-Baghdadiya satellite television said on Friday that a reporter was kidnapped in central Baghdad while on his way to work.
"A correspondent working for al-Baghdadiya satellite television Muntazer al-Zidi was kidnapped on Friday in unclear circumstances while on his way to work in al-Bab al-Sharqi region in central Baghdad," a source from the television told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) under condition of anonymity.
"The reporter's family tried to reach him through his cell phone, but the kidnappers responded and asserted the abduction," he noted.
He did not provide more details.
The channel appealed to the abductors to release al-Zidi, asking the Iraqi security authorities to work to set him free.
Al-Zidi, 26, has worked for the television since its establishment.
Al-Baghdadiya is an Iraqi private television started its transmission from Cairo in September 2005.
Reporters Without Borders, a French organization that monitors press freedom worldwide, said that Iraq is at 157th place regarding press freedom.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO), a non-governmental Iraqi organization that monitors violations and aggression against media staff in Iraq, said that 219 Iraqi and foreign journalists and media staffs have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003
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Reporter for Sunni TV station gunned down in Iraq
Story Published: May 11, 2006 at 9:51 AM PST
Story Updated: Aug 20, 2006 at 10:10 PM PST
- By TAREK EL-TABLAWY
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A reporter who worked for a pro-Sunni Iraqi television station was gunned down in Baghdad, making him at least the fourth media worker killed in Iraq this month, Iraqi officials and the station said Thursday.
Saud Muzahim al-Hadithi was found dead - shot repeatedly in the head - in Baghdad's notorious Dora neighborhood last week, said Iraqi army Capt. Ali Yaeen. News of his death came three days after the bodies of two other television station employees were found on a highway southeast of Baghdad.
Bodies routinely turn up in Dora, victims of what Sunni Arabs say are targeted reprisal assassinations by Shiite death squads. Many Shiites have fled Dora for fear of attack by Sunni extremists.
Al-Hadithi reported for al-Baghdadiya satellite channel for about seven months, but left the station about a month ago to join another station, said Mohammed Fityan, al-Baghdadiya's director in Baghdad. He declined to name the station and said he did not know exactly when al-Hadithi was found dead.
Al-Baghdadiya's reports are often critical of the Iraqi government and the U.S. military's presence in Iraq. The station is sympathetic to the country's Sunni Arab minority which forms the backbone of Iraq's insurgency. Iraq's Shiite-owned stations and newspapers are equally critical of Sunnis.
The international media group Reporters Without Borders said five journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since May 1, making the month "exceptionally murderous for the Iraqi news media." The Paris-based group said the five included freelance journalist Abdul-Magid al-Mohammedawi, whose body was found May 5 in his home. Iraqi authorities could not confirm al-Mohammedawi's death.
"We can no longer find words to express our horror at the tragedies constantly suffered by the press in Iraq," Reporters Without Borders said, urging Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki to investigate the killings.
The bodies of Al-Nahrain TV reporter Laith al-Dulaimi and Muazaz Ahmed Barood, the station's telephone operator, were found on Monday along a main road near Madain, about 12 miles southeast of Baghdad. Witnesses told police their vehicle was intercepted a day earlier by men dressed in police uniforms.
On Sunday, a car bomb exploded near the Baghdad offices of the state-run al-Sabah newspaper, killing an employee who worked at the printing press.
Reporters Without Borders said at least 93 journalists and media workers have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. It was unclear if the number included al-Hadithi and al-Mohammedawi.
Another media organization, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, has said at least 70 journalists, not counting al-Hadithi, have been killed since the invasion. The group's figure does not include media assistants. Two-thirds of those killed were Iraqis.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Al-Baghdadiya TV reporter detained in Diwaniyah
Baghdad, 27 June 2007 ( Voices of Iraq )
Iraqi security forces on Tuesday morning arrested the reporter from al-Baghdadiya satellite television in the city of Diwaniyah, the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) said.
"The satellite channels' news desk said that its reporter in the city of Diwaniyah, Emad al-Khuzaaei, was arrested by Iraqi security forces while on duty," the JFO said in a statement.
The channel quoted eyewitnesses as saying that "the man was beaten by security forces, who also confiscated his journalistic equipment".
The JFO held the Iraqi government and the interior ministry responsible for the reporter's safety, demanding them to immediately release him.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory is non-governmental organization formed of Iraqi journalists to monitor violations and aggression against media workers.
Diwaniyah is the capital city of Qadissiyah province in central southern Iraq, and lies 80 km south of Baghdad.
