UNESCO chief condemns the killing of Iraqi cameraman

[News_Editor]

UNESCO chief condemns the killing of Iraqi cameraman

2010-10-07 02:59:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Wednesday condemned the killing of an Iraqi cameraman who died in a car bombing about 80 kilometers (49 miles) west of Baghdad.

Tahrir Kadhim Jawad, 27, was driving to the Iraqi capital when a bomb attached to his car exploded while he was in the city of Garma in Anbar province. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-governmental organization, Jawad's murder makes him the third journalist to be murdered in the country in less than one month.

Jawad had worked as a journalist for 7 years, first as an editor with the weekly Al-Karma, and then as a freelance cameraman for numerous television broadcasters.

"He died carrying out his mission as a journalist, in the name of freedom of expression, a basic human right that is a cornerstone of democratic society," Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, said.

"Too many journalists in Iraq have paid with their lives to defend this right and its corollary, press freedom," Bokova added, calling on authorities to investigate Jawad’s murder and to increase security conditions for all journalists working in the country.

According to the NGO Reporters Without Borders, the Iraqi conflict has been the deadliest arena for journalists to work in since the Second World War.

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