Journalists fall victim to ethnic and sectarian violence, US troops carry out more unlawful arrests

The murders of three more media workers has brought the number of journalists and media assistants killed since the start of the war in March 2003 to 126, Reporters Without Borders said today, condemning a new wave of violence and the fact that the authorities have not so far conducted investigations that could put an end to the prevailing impunity. “Iraqi journalists are the victims of both political and sectarian killings,” the press freedom organisation said. “They are now one of the main targets for armed groups. They are also the victims of US army abuses - above all arbitrary arrests on accusations of having links with armed militias.” Reporters Without Borders added: “Journalists are more vulnerable to attacks because of media exposure, because everyone knows their names and faces. A total of 51 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start of the year and the current climate suggests that no positive change is on its way.” Saad Mehdi Shalash, a journalist working for the daily Rayat Al Arab, was killed with his wife in Baghdad on 25 October. A Shiite, he had received many threats and had decided to move to a safer neighbourhood. The couple had gone back to their former home in the district of Al Amriya to collect the last of their belongings when they were killed. Nakshin Hama Rashid, 31, a presenter on the Kurdish-language TV station Atiaf (part of the Al Iraqiya group), was murdered in her car along with her driver, Anas Kassim Nejm, in the centre of Baghdad on 29 October. She presented programmes targeted at Iraq's Kurdish and Christian minorities and had received anonymous threats in the past. She had also decided to move to a safer place, but her attackers intercepted her as she was going to work. In another case of violence against the media, a mortar shell exploded within the perimeter of the headquarters of the Al Iraqiya satellite TV station in Baghdad, wounding two guards. Press freedom violations by the US army The very low position (119th) assigned in the latest Reporters Without Borders world press freedom ranking to the United States for its behaviour outside US territory is above all explained by the US army's violations of the rights of the local press in Iraq. Arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention and unlawful searches are still routine. On 26 October, the US army arrested two journalists, Rabiaa Abdul Wahab and Ali Burhan, who work for radio Dar Al Salam, a station linked to an Islamist party. They were reportedly detained because of their suspected links with armed groups, but the lack of transparency with which the US authorities operate in Baghdad meant the real reasons for their arrest and their conditions of detention remained unknown. US troops also raided the headquarters of the Al Furat TV station without a warrant on 23 October, disarming guards, searching the premises and seizing computer material. The station, which is linked to a Shiite group, was able to continue broadcasting and reported the raid on the air while it was still going on. A total of 51 journalists and media assistants have been kidnapped in Iraq since the start of the war, in addition to the 126 who have been killed. Four of them are still being held hostage.