Newspaper editor shot dead in Iraq

October 20, 2005

The International Federation of Journalists today reported that an Iraqi journalist has been shot dead in Baghdad by unknown assailants. Mohammad Harun Hassan was editor of the Nabdh Al Shabeb Newspaper, and Executive Secretary of an Iraqi trade union, the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate.

According to the IFJ, Harun Hassan is the 100th media worker to be killed since March 2003.

Moaid Al Lamy, a board member of the union, told the IFJ that Harun Hassan had been critical of a number of political parties and some other editors.

"We believe this is a despicable attempt to weaken the syndicate and to try to kill off hopes for strong and independent professional journalism in Iraq", Al Lamy said.

The news comes a day after the kidnapping of Irish journalist Rory Carroll, who had been working as the Baghdad correspondent of the London-based Guardian newspaper.