Obituary column
Fourth journalist killed in Somalia in 2009
Another journalist died in Somalia today bringing the 2009 tally of journalist deaths in the East African nation to four. Nur Muse Hussein, a 56 year old radio journalist working with the Radio Voice of Holy Quran in Mogadishu, was shot in Beledweyne city in the Hiran region of Central Somalia in late April. The National Union of Somali Journalists […]
Journalist shot dead in Somalia
A journalist working with Radio Shabelle was shot dead near Bakara Market in the Somali capital Mogadishu this morning. Abdirisak Warsameh Mohamed was reportedly on his way to work when he was caught in crossfire and shot in the chest. There has been an upsurge in violence in the capital in recent weeks between government […]
77 names added to wall of fallen journalists
The names of 62 journalists killed in 2008 and 15 killed in previous years have been added to a memorial wall at the Newseum in Washington D.C. that honours journalists killed doing the job of journalism. Iraq and Mexico were the deadliest places for journalists last year. 13 names from Iraq were added to the […]
Journalist shot dead in Rawalpindi
Raja Asad Hameed, a senior reporter with the English Language daily The Nation in Pakistan, was shot dead last night in Rawalpindi, Unidentified armed men on Thursday night killed Raja Asad Hameed, senior reporter of a local English daily. The incident took place at 10pm, when the armed men came to Hameed’s house and rang […]
The BBC “failed” Kate Peyton
Kate Peyton was gunned down outside the Sahafi hotel in Mogadishu in November, 2005. An inquest into her death was held in November, 2008. Charles Peyton, the brother of Kate, has asked us to publish this from him. The views contained below do not represent those of the Frontline Club, The BBC failed my sister, […]
Javed Yazamy killed in Kandahar
Javed Yazamy, a freelance camerman and fixer working in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, was killed yesterday in a drive by shooting. He worked for Canadian news outlets mainly CTV News and went also went by the name of Javed Ahmed and the nickname of JoJo. The Committe to Protect Journalists sent out this statement, […]
Mosa Khankhel killed in Swat valley
Mosa Khankhel, a journalist with GEO TV in Pakistan, was shot and killed by attackers in the Taliban controlled area of Swat valley, 100 miles northwest of Islamabad today. The attackers subsequently tried to behead him. Reporters without borders express outrage at the killing, “We want to express our full solidarity with journalists in the […]
No Colombian journalists killed in 2008
According to the Foundation for Liberty and Freedom of the Press (FLIP), no Colombian journalists were killed in 2008 for the first time in 23 years, A total of 130 journalists were killed in Colombia in the past 30 years. The organisation notes that Colombian journalists are still regularly threatened by terrorist organisations. FLIP reports […]
Death in Madagscar
The Committee to protect journalists (CPJ) requests a probe into the death of Ando Ratovonirina in Madagascar last week. The 26 year old reporter and cameraman was killed while working for Radio Télévision Analamanga at an antigovernment demonstration in the capital, Antananarivo, "We are shocked by the killing of Ando Ratovonirina and extend our condolences […]
Salam al-Dosaki shot dead in Mosul
Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the al-Hadba newspaper in Mosul, Iraq, was shot dead by a policeman on Thursday afternoon, 5 February according to Reuters, Mohammed Yunis Mohammed, a Mosul policeman, had been drinking when he approached the home of neighbour Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the local al-Hadba newspaper, police said. An argument ensued […]
Said Tahlil Ahmed shot dead in Somalia
Said Tahlil Ahmed, the director of HornAfrik Radio, was shot dead this afternoon by three gunmen near Bakara market in Mogadishu according to the National Union of Somali Journalists. “This is a outrageous and appalling assassination” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. “Said Tahlil Ahmed was assassinated because of his strong and professional commitment […]
14 journalists killed in January
The Press Emblem Campaign called for protection of journalists around the world on Monday. The Geneva based watchdog highlighted recent harassment and assassinations in Sri Lanka and the lack of media access to the Gaza Strip, Four journalists were killed in the Gaza Strip, along with two in Russia and another two in Venezuela. In […]
The Fixers Fund
If you’ve nipped into the Frontline Club recently you might have noticed the Fixers Fund gift donation envelopes, on the stairs, at the bar and in the forum. We’ve also put together a short video explaining more about the fund and how it was started following the murder of Ajmal Naqshbandi. Afghan journalist and fixer […]
Who killed Hrant Dink?
Hrant Dink was shot dead on January 17, 2007 outside the Istanbul offices of Agos, the bilingual Armenian weekly where he worked as editor-in-chief. 20 suspects have been arrested for the killing of the Turkish-Armenian journalist. Eight remain in custody, but none have been charged. To mark the anniversary of Dink’s assassination this week hundreds […]
Anastasia Baburova shot dead in Moscow
Anastasia Baburova was shot dead in Moscow in broad daylight today along with Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov. Baburova was killed as she tried to intervene when Markelov was attacked. The freelance journalist in her mid-20’s worked for Novaya Gazeta newspaper, the same newspaper as Anna Politkovskaya who was also shot dead in Moscow […]
And then they came for me
Lasantha Wickrematunge, the editor of the Sri Lanka newspaper The Sunday Leader who was murdered on Sunday, wrote his own farewell letter days before he was murdered. I blogged about his brutal murder on 8 January, but I am posting his final editorial in full here, No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay […]
Uma Singh hacked to death in Nepal
Uma Singh, a 26 year old Nepalese journalist who worked for a local radio station in Janakpur in western Nepal, was hacked to death when a group of 15 men entered the room she rented in a house on Sunday night. The attack happened in full view of other residents. Singh had a history of […]
Ala Mortaji killed in Gaza as media outlets targetted
Ala Mortaji, a radio journalist in Gaza, has died on Friday from wounds sustained when Israeli tanks fired at his home in Zaitoun district of Gaza City, Mortaji is the third journalist to be killed in the Israeli violence in Gaza, he worked as a radio broadcast personality in Gaza on a local radio show. […]
Palestinian camerman Ihab Al-Wahidi killed in Gaza
Ihab Al-Wahidi, a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza, was reportedly killed on Thursday after two tank shells hit his apartment in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood south of Gaza City. Wahidi was employed by Palestine TV and has previously worked as Yasser Arrafat’s cameraman. His mother and wife were also killed in the attack.(UPDATE: The IFJ […]
Lasantha Wickramatunga shot dead in Colombo
Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor of popular Sri Lankan newspaper The Sunday Leader, has been shot dead as he drove to work in the capital Colombo. The editor, whose newspaper sub header reads “Unbowed And Unafraid”, had often been critical of the government. In his last editorial he said, Winning the war? Then there must be elections […]
Two journalists killed in Pakistan
Two journalists were among seven killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Government Polytechnic College in Dera Ismail Khan in northern Pakistan yesterday, The suicide bomber struck when police and forensic experts were collecting evidence after cordoning off the area around the teashop. Officials said the head and legs of a man […]
Hassan Mayow killed in Somalia
Hassan Mayow, a Shabelle radio correspondent in Somalia, was shot dead when he was caught in the crossfire between two groups armed with AK-47s in Afgoi some 30km west of Mogadishu on New Year’s Day, “Hassan was one of the nimble correspondents of Shabelle radio and was very sincere for his task of Journalism, we […]
Hamza Shahin killed in Gaza
Hamza Shahin, a photographer with the Shihab Media Agency in the Gaza Strip, has died of injuries he suffered some two weeks ago when Israeli tanks attacked in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the killing, “Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza present a serious risk to security […]
Norman Macswan dies age 91
Norman Macswan, who worked as a war correspondent, foreign correspondent and was the associate editor of the Australian Associated Press (AAP) has died aged 91. After covering the Korean War in the early 1950s he worked in London, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and New York before returning to Australia as a senior editor in the […]
Telegraph war correspondent dies age 96
Edmund Townshend, who worked as a war correspondent for The Daily Telegraph during World War II, has died aged 96. On his first ever flight in an aircraft, during the Battle of Arhem, he was shot down and had to bail out. He went on to cover the D-Day landings, On the morning of D-Day […]
Shooting the messengers in Mexico
Just over a week ago crime reporter Armando Rodriguez was shot dead in his driveway in the border town of Ciudad Juárez. Two other crime reporters have since received death threats including Jorge Luis Aguirre, the 51-year-old editor of the Juarez news Web site called La Polaka. Frontline blogger Deborah Bonello, in Mexico City, has […]
Kate Peyton inquest kicks off
The inquiry into the death of Kate Peyton, the BBC producer who was gunned down outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu in February 2005, opens today, Ms Peyton’s sister, Rebecca, an actress who lives in Brixton, south London, said: “All the journalists we’ve spoken to who have been to Somalia or who know about it […]
Didace Namujimbo shot dead in South Kivu
Didace Namujimbo, a radio journalist with the UN-backed Radio Okapi station, was shot dead on Friday night. He is the second journalist from the station to have been shot dead in the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu in the last eighteen months, “Once again a Radio Okapi journalist has been killed in Bukavu. Didace Namujimbo […]
Edward R. F. Sheehan dies age 78
The freelance foreign correspondent Edward R. F. Sheehan has died at the age of 78. The journalist, playwright, novelist and scholar is best known for his reports from the Middle East. He also had a few close calls during a long career which began in the 1960’s, “He almost got killed a number of times,” […]
Giorgos Koiliaris dies after Afghan car crash
Greek TV war correspondent Giorgos Koiliaris has died from injuries he suffered in a car crash in Afghanistan last month, Giorgos Koiliaris had worked for several newspapers and radio stations before he started working for the NET broadcaster. The 53-year-old specialized in reporting on wars from around the globe, beginning in Lebanon in the 1980s. […]