Journalist gunned down in Mosul, third in three weeks

Reporters Without Borders condemns Al-Mosuliya TV cameraman Bashar Abdulqader Najm Al-Nouaymi’s murder yesterday in Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad. Nouaymi was the victim of a targeted shooting by gunmen using a silencer. His body was found near his home in the Mosul neighbourhood of Nabi Shayth yesterday afternoon. He was the third journalist to be gunned down in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, in the past three weeks. A police source said an investigation was under way to establish the exact circumstances of Nouaymi’s murder. “We offer our condolences to Nouaymi’s family and colleagues and hope the investigation will shed light on what happened,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The perpetrators and instigators must be brought to justice, so that this shocking killing does not go unpunished. The possibility of a link to the victim’s journalistic work should be closely examined.” October has been an exceptionally deadly month for media personnel in Iraq and Reporters Without Borders is particularly concerned about the wave of murders of journalists in Mosul. “We urge the national and local authorities to adopt appropriate measures to ensure that journalists can work without fearing for their safety,” Reporters Without Borders added. “The government must give the local authorities the resources they need to investigate these murders thoroughly and to prevent more violence.” Al-Sharqiya TV reporter Mohamed Karim Al-Badrani and his cameraman, Mohamed Al-Ghanem, were gunned down while doing a report on the preparations for Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) in Al-Sarjakhaneh market, in the centre of Mosul, on 5 October. Nineveh governorate spokesman Saad Zaghloul, who also did journalistic work, was gunned down outside his home in the Mosul district of Al-Qadissiya on 8 October.