Media death toll since start of war reaches 100

Reporters Without Borders voiced horror today as the toll of journalists killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003 reached 100 with the discovery yesterday of the body of Adel Naji Al Mansouri, who was shot after being kidnapped in front of his Baghdad home the day before. “One hundred journalists and media assistants killed in three years is appalling,” the press freedom organisation said. “No armed conflict since the Second World War has been so deadly for the press. The Iraqi government must do everything possible to identify and punish those responsible for these atrocities. It is unacceptable that nothing has yet been done to shed light on these increasingly commonplace murders and that no measures have been taken to protect journalists in Iraq.” Reporters Without Borders added: “Our thoughts go out to the Mansouri's family and employers and we assure them of our entire solidarity.” A 20-year-old Iraqi citizen, Mansouri was the Baghdad correspondent of the Iranian TV station Al Alam. He was kidnapped and then shot as he was returning to his home in the west Baghdad district of Al Amiriyah. He had moved his wife and daughter away from Baghdad after receiving death threats that were probably linked to his work as a journalist. Reporters Without Borders today also condemned an attack on Ali Al Yassi, a journalist with the Arabic-language satellite TV station Al Hurra, who was badly beaten by police yesterday in Baghdad. The organisation is investigating the cases of journalists Abdul Wahab Abdul Razeq Ahamad Al Qaisie and Riyad Atto, whose bodies were also found yesterday. The editor of the Iraqi magazine Kol al Dounia, Qaisie was kidnapped on 20 July. Atto was the editor of a newspaper based in Talafar, north of Baghdad. In addition to the 100 journalists and media assistants killed since 2003, two are missing and three others are currently held hostage.