07 Nov 11 | News and features
MURDERED 7 NOVEMBER 2005
Ahmed Hussein al-Maliki, Local Affairs Editor, “Talafar al-Yawm” — Mosul, Iraq
Join us in demanding justice for Ahmed Hussein al-Maliki, who was gunned down on 7 November 2005 by unidentified gunmen while exiting an Internet café in Mosul’s central district. He had emailed that day’s local news to the editor-in-chief 15 minutes before he was shot.
Al-Maliki often relied on police sources for his job and enjoyed good relations with them. Insurgents often target journalists seen dealing with the Iraqi police. They have also been known to go after pro-democracy and pro-Iraqi government media, of which “Talafar Al-Yawm” is one.
Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Ahmed Hussein al-Maliki
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
06 Nov 11 | News and features
MURDERED NOVEMBER 2004
Wadallah Sarhan, Editor-in-Chief, Akhbar Al-Mosul — Mosul,Iraq
Join us in demanding justice for Wadallah Sarhan, gunned down in November 2004 by assailants near his home, which doubled as the newspaper’s office, according to local journalists and a local government official. The sources could not provide a precise date for his death. Sarhan may have been targeted because of suspicions that his newspaper had received US funding. According to one reporter, Sarhan’s name was included on an insurgent “hit list” of local journalists that was posted in some local mosques in 2004.
In 2011, Iraq – with an impunity rating three times worse than that of any other nation – is ranked first in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Impunity Index for the fourth straight year. Plus, says CPJ, not a single one of the 92 journalists’ murders recorded in Iraq this past decade has been solved.
Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Wadallah Sarhan
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
05 Nov 11 | News and features
MURDERED 5 NOVEMBER 2008
Reporter, “Expreso Matamoros”, Matamoros, Mexico
Join us in demanding justice Carlos Alberto Guajardo Romero, the 37-year-old left home to cover a confrontation between military forces and drug traffickers in Matamoros on 5 November 2010. His pickup was reportedly shot at least 20 times as he was heading for the Secretariat of Homeland Security to gather more information. National news reports said army officers had fired at the journalist’s unmarked truck mistaking him for a gunman involved in the shooting – part of a major operation targeting Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, the kingpin of the Gulf drug cartel. The army deployed 150 soldiers, three helicopters and 17 vehicles; besides Guajardo and Cárdenas, three soldiers and four other gang members were killed.
At the same time, the government announced a strategy to protect journalists from death threats from common criminals, drug cartels and even the authorities. But IFEX members strongly denounced the programme – having been devised and run entirely by government officials.
Take action and send a letter to the authorities demanding an immediate and open investigation into this case here
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
04 Nov 11 | News and features
MURDERED 4 NOVEMBER 1993
Reporter, Radio Congo – Bacongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Join us in demanding justice for Laurent Bisset, a reporter for the state-owned Radio Congo and an outspoken supporter of then President Pascal Lissouba, was found dead outside his home in Bacongo, an opposition stronghold, on 4 November 1993. The neighborhood had been besieged for days when fighting broke out between government troops and opposition forces over accusations that the government had rigged parliamentary elections. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 25 people died.
Take action and send a letter to the authorities demanding an immediate and open investigation into this case here
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
