UNESCO chief condemns killings of journalists in Congo, Iraq, and Mexico

[News_Editor]

UNESCO chief condemns killings of journalists in Congo, Iraq, and Mexico

2011-07-02 07:04:55 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Friday condemned the killings of journalists working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq, and Mexico, voicing outrage due to the lack of press freedom.

Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia, who hosted a news show on Radio Lubero Sud, was shot dead last week near his home in Kirumba in the DRC's North Kivu province. Kambale Musonia is the sixth journalist to be killed in the DRC's troubled eastern region since 2007. While his killers remain unidentified, reports indicate that he had recently reported on the activities of gangs of armed bandits in Kirumba.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova condemned the murder and urged Congolese authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"Such crimes affect society's ability to enjoy the basic human right of freedom of expression," she said. "The death of a journalist in violent circumstances is an attempt to silence the all-important voice of the press."

Also last week, cameraman Alwan al-Ghorabi, who worked for the Afaq satellite television channel, died in a car bomb explosion in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniyya, becoming the fourth journalist to be killed in that country this year. During the attack, he was reportedly with several other journalists at the entrance of a Government building.

Bokova deplored the death of al-Ghorabi, underlining that this latest death is a reminder of how precarious the security situation still is in Iraq. "Media professionals, working to keep citizens informed, are particularly exposed," she noted.

The third journalist killed last week was Mexican newspaper columnist Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, who was murdered – along with his wife and 21-year-old son - by unknown assailants at their home in the eastern city of Veracruz on June 20.

Lopez Velasco, who was also the deputy director of daily newspaper Notiver, wrote a regular column about security, drug trafficking and corruption. He is the 13th journalist to have been slain in Mexico since last year.

"Such barbaric attempts to silence the media – and, by extension, the voices of citizens and communities – must be firmly condemned and punished," Bokova stated. "We must stand clearly alongside those courageous journalists who, at great risk to themselves and those close to them, are working to keep citizens informed about the forces and events influencing their society."

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