RIGHTS: 19 Journalists Reported Killed in 2002

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 2003 (IPS) - Nineteen journalists were killed in connection with their work during 2002, the lowest total since at least 1985, when the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began tracking the deaths of reporters, according to the New York-based group.

That was just about half of the 37 killed in 2001, according to a new CPJ report which attributed the drop in part to the decline in the number of violent conflicts around the globe, such as Afghanistan, where eight journalists were killed during the U.S.-led military campaign in 2001 that ousted the Taliban regime.

The group said the drop may also be due in part to the international attention garnered by last year’s abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

In the wake of his killing, major news organisations gave a higher priority to the safety of their reporters. At least two journalists, for example, survived being shot in the West Bank last spring because they had been issued flak jackets, while during civic disturbances in Venezuela, bulletproof vests saved the lives of two others.

CPJ executive director Ann Cooper stressed, however, that journalists remained unsafe in many parts of the world.

"While we are encouraged to see the number of deaths decrease this year, journalists are still being targeted and assassinated for doing their jobs,” she said. ”Drug traffickers in Brazil, paramilitary groups in Colombia, and corrupt politicians in the Philippines are trying to silence journalists through intimidation and murder, and it has to stop.”

Nor are the 19 cases cited by the report necessarily the only killings which took place in 2002, according to Cooper. She said four journalists remain missing, while 13 other killings not counted by the group may indeed have been carried out in retaliation for their professional work. All 17 cases are still being investigated, she said.

Of the 19 confirmed work-related murders, Colombia and Russia – both ”perennial offenders,” according to CPJ – accounted for three each.

In Russia, Valery Ivanov, an editor of a newspaper known for its coverage of organised crime, was executed gangland-style in Togliatti, while Natalya Skryl, a business reporter for the newspaper Nashe Vremya in Rostov-on-Don, was bludgeoned to death by an unknown assailant during her investigation of control over a local metallurgical plant. In neither case has anyone been charged for the murders.

In Ingushetia, close to the Chechen border, meanwhile, Roddy Scott, a British free-lance cameraman working for Britain’s Front-Line news agency, was killed following clashes between Russian forces and Chechen guerrillas.

In Colombia, two journalists known for their criticism of all sides in the country’s civil war were murdered. Efrain Varela Noriega, the owner and talk-show host of an Arauca radio station, was pulled from his car and shot and killed after warning listeners about the arrival of right-wing paramilitaries in the area, while Orlando Sierra Hernandez, a columnist for the newspaper La Patria, was shot in the head on his way to work and died two days later.

And Hector Sandoval, a cameraman with RCN Television, died, along with his driver, of gunshot wounds sustained during a firefight between the army and leftist rebels outside of Cali.

Three journalists were also killed in the West Bank and Gaza during 2002. Raffaele Ciriello, an Italian free-lance photographer on assignment for Corriere Della Sera, was killed by machine gun fire from the direction of an Israeli tank last March, while two Palestinian journalists, Imad Abu Zahra and Issam Tillai were killed after being shot by Israeli gunfire in Jenin and Ramallah, respectively.

Two reporters were killed in the Philippines: Edgar Damalerio, managing editor of the Zamboanga Scribe and a commentator at a local radio station, was shot and killed while driving home from a press conference. He was known for his attacks on corruption among local politicians and police.

In addition, Sonny Alcatara, a newspaper publisher and television commentator in San Pablo, was killed by a lone gunman after breaking a story about a local politician in a corrupt land deal.

Two journalists were also killed in Pakistan, including Pearl, who was abducted while working on a story about the Al Qaeda network in Pakistan and eventually killed. Four suspects in that case were tried and found guilty of his murder in July.

The other case involved Shahid Soomro, a reporter for the Sindhi-language newspaper Kawish in Kandhkot. He was assassinated for his reports of abuses committed during the October elections, and members of an influential family have been detained for questioning, CPJ said.

In Bangladesh, Harunur Rashid, a crime reporter for the newspaper Cainik Purbanchal who was ambushed and shot by gunmen on his way to work, was known for his stories exposing corruption and linking criminal syndicates with Maoist guerrilla groups in the region.

In Brazil, Tim Lopes, an award-winning investigative reporter with TV Globo, was kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered by drug traffickers while on assignment investigating the drug trade in a favela on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

In India, Ram Chander Chaterpatti, editor of the newspaper Poora Sach, died one month after he was shot by gunmen who are believed to have been associated with a local religious sect, after he wrote several articles about sexual abuse and other crimes committed on its property. Three suspects have been arrested in that case, according to CPJ.

In Nepal, Nava Raj Sharma, editor of the weekly Kadam, was kidnapped and brutally killed by Maoist rebels reportedly after resisting pressure from the guerrillas to make Kadam into their mouthpiece.

In the only African case, Jimmy Higenyi, a student journalist, was killed when police fired into an opposition rally he was covering last January.

In Venezuela, Jorge Ibrain Tortoza Cruz, a photographer for the Caracas daily 2001, was shot while covering clashes between opposition demonstrators and government supporters during protests last April.

CPJ, which includes murdered reporters on its annual list only when it has been confirmed that they were killed in pursuit of their duties, stressed that its guidelines in that respect are particularly strict. On Tuesday, a report by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) in Toronto found that 46 journalists and media workers were killed in 19 countries during 2002, including ten in Colombia, seven in Russia, and three each in India, Mexico, Nepal, the occupied territories, and the Philippines.