As the death toll reaches an estimated 154 since the allied invasion in 2003, the Iraq war is proving to be the deadliest for journalists and media workers since World War II, and Baghdad claims the title of the world’s most dangerous city for journalists. And as the allied offensive subsides, the death toll is rising; 2006, a record year in itself for the number of journalists killed worldwide, is proving to be the most violent year in Iraq since the war began. Over 50 journalists and media workers had been killed by November. Murder accounts for the predominant cause of death in a country where little or no protection is offered to journalists, and the security situation continues to worsen. Index on Censorship´s Hayley Dixon reports
October’s death toll
The new wave of violence against the media was clearly evident during October, when 19 journalists and media assistants were killed. On 6 October Jassem Hamad Ibrahim, a driver for state channel Al-Iraqiya was ambushed and murdered, his body was found riddled with bullets. Four days later the body of 29 year old journalist Azad Muhammad Hussein was identified in a morgue in Baghdad. Hussein, a reporter for Radio Dar Al-Salam was kidnapped on 3 October from the al-Shaab neighborhood, northern Baghdad. It is unclear how his body arrived at the morgue but there was evidence of torture. On 12 October 11 people were killed when the television station Al Shaabiya was stormed by masked gunmen, some of whom were wearing police uniform, before it had even begun broadcasting. When the police were alerted to the emergency they responded with the claim that ‘it was impossible to send out a patrol each time an attack took place’. Raid Qais Al Shammari, a reporter for Al-Iraqiya, was shot dead at the wheel of his car on 13 October. Three days later his colleague Ali Halil was also murdered by gunmen in Baghdad. On 26 October Saad Shalash, a journalist working for Rayat Al Arab, and his wife were found dead in their home. On 29 October the bodies of Naqshin Hamma Rashid, a presenter for the state owned al-Iraqyi, and her driver Anas Kassim Nejm were found in the Haifa Street district of Baghdad, a day after they were abducted; like Shalash she was attempting to move to a safer place when she was murdered. The month ended with the body of freelance journalist Abdelmajid Ismael Khalil being found in the east Baghdad neighborhood of Jamila 13 days after he was abducted. This litany of the dead illustrates just how serious the situation in Iraq has become, and as yet all the murders remain unpunished. Human rights and hopes for a free media continue to deteriorate, with journalists being killed in broad daylight and in their homes. Victims of sectarian and political murders, they seem to be bearing the weight of a divided country where different factions are fighting for control and attempting to silence dissent.
Leading by example
At the same time, the West has provided shocking examples of the ´free world´’s attitude toward the media during combat. Insurgent groups seem to view the media as a viable target for violence, dangerous in a country trying to establish democracy. The war saw devastating military attacks on the independent media, some of which were allegedly planned by the allied forces. Former UK home secretary David Blunkett, who was a member of the war cabinet during the Iraq invasion, revealed to Channel 4’s Dispatches programme ‘The Blunkett Tapes’, the first of which was shown on Thursday 12 October and coincided with the release of his book by the same name, that he advised Tony Blair to attack Al Jazeera headquarters. His advice was given just two weeks before the Baghdad bureau was bombed by the US army in April 2003, killing journalist Tareq Ayyoub. This was not the first time that it has been suggested the attack on the Qatar based pan-Arab channel was premeditated. In November 2005 a government memo recording a conversation between George Bush and Tony Blair was leaked, in which Bush allegedly expressed a desire to bomb the headquarters. The government used the official secrets act to prevent the memo being reported by the press. Editor-in-chief of the station´s Arabic channel, Ahmed al-Sheikh, claims that Blunkett’s comments ‘add to the growing number of evidences that will one day prove that the attack on Al Jazeera was premeditated… at the highest levels’.
In defence of the action, Blunkett claimed ‘I don’t think that there are targets in a war that you can rule out because you don’t actually have military personnel inside them if they are attempting to win a propaganda battle on behalf of your enemy’. Although the former home secretary claimed there was a difference between targeting transmitters and journalists, he regarded the latter as an illegitimate target. Blunkett remained unconcerned that targeting a civilian organisation contravenes international law. Al Jazeera released an article on its website on 1 November stating that it is now considering legal action, and is urging Tony Blair to make an official statement.
Iraqi government fails to protect journalists
Blunkett’s comments remind us that it is not just insurgent groups who view the independent media as a viable target for violence. When media pressure group Reporters sans frontiers asked Iraqi President Jalal Talabani about the restrictions on and violence against the media on 7 November, he insisted that ‘Iraqi journalists are the freest in the Middle East’. Talabani also stressed that the government has never ordered the death of any journalist. However his arguments for a free media hold little weight when they came only two days after the two television stations, Saleheddin TV in Tikrit and Al-Zawraa TV in Baghdad, were closed for broadcasting images of pro-Saddam demonstrations. Despite international attention and pressure the Iraq government seems unwilling to protect the media and allow unhindered freedom of expression. No case of violence against the media has been solved. The government has also failed to conduct investigations to end the prevailing impunity. As Ziad al-Ajili, head of the Iraqi Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, illustrates, the impunity arises from political divides and alliances: ‘freedom has dropped to a very low level, because the insurgents and militias have relations with the government’.
Until media is protected Iraq will never have a democracy
Journalism is a deadly profession in Iraq; facing the twin pressures of a divided country all forms of expression are liable to offend one or more political group. The media label no longer affords protection on national or international levels; in fact the independent media is becoming a viable target for violence, and the death count is rising at an incredible speed. But the names of the dead are largely overlooked, with the Western media paying little attention to the plight of their Iraqi counterparts. As journalists continue to be murdered in the deadliest conflict in over 50 years, there is increasingly less room for dialogue in Iraq. The international community has a responsibility to pressure the Iraqi government to protect the lives of journalists and establish a free media. But the targeting of media threatens not only journalists´ safety and human rights but the democratic system itself. Until Iraq allows dissent and discussion, it is difficult to see how democracy will ever be established.
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