Calls to probe journalist’s murder

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Association for Defending Journalists’ Rights called on the Iraqi Ministry of Interior to reveal the circumstances surrounding the assassination of an Iraqi journalist, who was killed on Friday evening in Kirkuk province. “The association urges the Ministry of Interior to conduct a prompt investigation into the killing of Dayyar Abbas Ahmed, a correspondent for al-Ain news agency in Kirkuk, and to reveal the body behind his assassination…,” Ibrahim al-Siraji told IraqiNews.com. Describing the assassination as an attempt to silence the voice of honest writers, Siraji said that Abbas would cover economy issues, not political or security affairs. On Friday, unidentified gunmen opened fire on journalist Dayyar Abbas in front of the Kirkuk Association of Artists in central Kirkuk, leaving him severely wounded. Abbas died on his way to the hospital, according to Brig. Sarhad Qader, a local police chief. Al-Ain is an independent Iraqi media corporation. Several months ago, unidentified gunmen had shot down Kurdish journalist Soran Mama Hama in front of his house in Kirkuk. Hama was in charge of the Kirkuk office of the Lafin, an independent Kurdish-language political magazine. SS (S) 1