UN official urges tighter safety for journalists after recent attack

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom has called for tighter measures to ensure safety for media personnel working in Iraq following recent attacks that left two journalists among the dead. “Such indiscriminate killings are contrary to every law,” the director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koïchiro Matsuura, said in a news release published on the web site of the UN News Center. On March 10, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib area, killing 28 people and wounding 28 others, according to an official spokesperson for Baghdad’s Operation Command. “Haider Hashim, a correspondent for private TV broadcaster Al-Baghdadia, and cameraman Suhaib Adnan were among the victims of the 10 March attack. Ibrahim al-Katib, a reporter for Iraqi state television, Iraqia TV, was gravely wounded,” according to the UN report. “‘I must, once again, urge the authorities to improve the safety of journalists, a profession of brave women and men whose work is important for society as a whole as it seeks to restore democracy and rule of law. The toll paid by the profession in Iraq is shocking,’ the Director-General stated.” “The attack brings to 295 the number of Iraqi journalists killed in the country since April 2003, according to the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate,” it added. SS (S) 1