UNESCO condemns murder of Al Jazeera cameraman in Libya

UNESCO condemns murder of Al Jazeera cameraman in Libya

2011-03-17 02:27:30 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Wednesday condemned the murder of an Al Jazeera cameraman who was killed near the rebel-held city of Benghazi in Libya last weekend.

"The death of Ali Hassan Al-Jaber takes the violence and intimidation against journalists in Libya to a new extreme and highlights the risks taken by the media in trying to do its job," Director-General of the UNESCO Irina Bokova said in a statement.

The station said Ali Hassan Al-Jaber was returning to Benghazi from a nearby town after filing a report from an opposition protest when unknown fighters opened fire on the three-member team, wounding two of them. Al-Jaber was rushed to hospital, but it was too late.

"All those exercising authority in Libya must realize that such acts will not make the problems go away. Peace and development hinge on meeting the aspirations of the Libyan people, not on repression of freedom of speech and of the public right to receive information," Bokova added.

The ambush is the latest in a series of violent attacks, beatings and arrests of journalists in Libya, where authorities have also been jamming the signal of foreign media and inciting violence against journalists, according to UNESCO.

The North African nation has been plunged into chaos as massive anti-government protests continue nationwide, resulting in a violent crackdown by security forces which included aerial bombardments on protesters. At least 1,000 and as many as 10,000 people are believed to have been killed in the uprising, but confirmed information has been difficult to obtain due to reporting restrictions by Libyan authorities.The ensuing violence has caused over 280,000 people to flee their homes, with most crossing over into neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.

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