Reporters Without Borders calls for journalists' safety to be respected

Update 21 May 2004 - Release of journalist Fran Sevilla Reporters Without Borders welcomed the rapid release of Fran Sevilla, a journalist with the Spanish radio station Radio Nacional de España (RNE), who was detained for several hours this morning in a mosque in the southern city of Najaf by a group linked to the radical Shi-ite leader Moqtada al Sadr. It also welcomed the release of Hassan Karim, cameraman with Al-Arabiya television, who was freed on the evening of 21 May with no explanation from the US forces that arrested him the previous day. The organisation reiterated its appeal to all parties involved in the conflict in Iraq not to target or endanger the safety of Iraqi or foreign journalists. Iraq is currently one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the news media. ------------------------------- An Iraqi technician from al-Jazeera television Rashid Hamid Wali was shot dead on the night of 20 May in Kerbala, during clashes between the US Army and Shiite militia of Moqtada al-Sadr, the channel said in Baghdad. To date at least 27 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003. Thirteen journalists and media assistants have been killed since 1st January 2004, 11 of them Iraqis. Iraq can still be considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Reporters Without Borders called on all parties present - coalition forces and armed Iraqi groups - to respect the Geneva Conventions that guarantee journalists protection in conflict zones. The organisation called for the early release of the al-Aribiya cameraman Hassan Karim and expressed its concern about the fate of Spanish journalist Fran Sevilla being held in Najaf, in central Iraq Al-Jazeera bureau chief Saad Ibrahim described how his technician was killed: "Half an hour after midnight we had just finished filming live on the hotel roof when shots were aimed at our crew. Hamid Rashid Wali was hit in the head. He had worked with us for a long time and he arrived in Kerbala only two days earlier to relieve the previous crew," he said. A journalist and cameraman were on the roof with him at the time. Special correspondent for Spanish radio RNE, Fran Sevilla, 44, a Spanish national has been detained for several hours in a mosque in Kajaf by a group close to the radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the radio reported. US forces arrested al-Arabiya cameraman Karim on 20 May. A spokesperson for the channel, contacted by telephone in Dubai, confirmed that he was still being held on 21 May, without any official explanation being given about the reasons for his arrest, on Thursday morning in the al-Baya'a.district.