PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
UNESCO deplores killing of journalists in DRC, Iraq, Mexico
New York, US (PANA) - The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Friday condemned the recent killing of journalists working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq and Mexico.
UNESCO Director-General, Ms. Irina Bokova, in a statement made available to PANA in New York, expressed sadness over the murder of Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia, who hosted a news show on Radio Lubero Sud.
He was shot dead 22 June near his home in Kirumba in North Kivu province in the DRC.
Bokova urged Congolese authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
``His killers remain unidentified, but Kambale Musonia, the sixth journalist to be killed in the DRC’s troubled east since 2007, had recently reported on the activities of gangs of armed bandits in Kirumba,'' she said.
Bokova also stated: ``Such crimes affect society’s ability to enjoy the basic human right of freedom of expression'', saying that ``the death of a journalist in violent circumstances is an attempt to silence the all-important voice of the press''.
The UNESCO chief also deplored the death on 21 June of cameraman Alwan al-Ghorabi, who died in a car bomb explosion in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniyya, becoming the fourth journalist to be killed in that country this year.
Al-Ghorabi, who worked for the Afaq satellite television channel, was reportedly with several other journalists at the entrance of a government building when the bomb exploded.
She said the latest death was a reminder of how precarious the security situation is in Iraq.
``Media professionals, working to keep citizens informed, are particularly exposed,” she noted.
In addition, the director-general voiced concern over the death of a Mexican newspaper columnist, Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, who was murdered along with his wife and 21-year-old son by unknown assailants at their home in the eastern city of Veracruz on 20 June.
Lopez Velasco, a deputy director of a daily newspaper, wrote a regular column about security, drug trafficking and corruption.
He is the 13th journalist to have been slain in Mexico since last year.
``Such barbaric attempts to silence the media and, by extension, the voices of citizens and communities must be firmly condemned and punished,” Bokova said.
She also added that, ``we must stand clearly alongside those courageous journalists who, at great risk to themselves and those close to them, are working to keep citizens informed about the forces and events influencing their society''.
UNESCO, which began work in 1946, has a specific mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom.
-0- PANA AA/VAO 1July2011
UNESCO Director-General, Ms. Irina Bokova, in a statement made available to PANA in New York, expressed sadness over the murder of Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia, who hosted a news show on Radio Lubero Sud.
He was shot dead 22 June near his home in Kirumba in North Kivu province in the DRC.
Bokova urged Congolese authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
``His killers remain unidentified, but Kambale Musonia, the sixth journalist to be killed in the DRC’s troubled east since 2007, had recently reported on the activities of gangs of armed bandits in Kirumba,'' she said.
Bokova also stated: ``Such crimes affect society’s ability to enjoy the basic human right of freedom of expression'', saying that ``the death of a journalist in violent circumstances is an attempt to silence the all-important voice of the press''.
The UNESCO chief also deplored the death on 21 June of cameraman Alwan al-Ghorabi, who died in a car bomb explosion in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniyya, becoming the fourth journalist to be killed in that country this year.
Al-Ghorabi, who worked for the Afaq satellite television channel, was reportedly with several other journalists at the entrance of a government building when the bomb exploded.
She said the latest death was a reminder of how precarious the security situation is in Iraq.
``Media professionals, working to keep citizens informed, are particularly exposed,” she noted.
In addition, the director-general voiced concern over the death of a Mexican newspaper columnist, Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, who was murdered along with his wife and 21-year-old son by unknown assailants at their home in the eastern city of Veracruz on 20 June.
Lopez Velasco, a deputy director of a daily newspaper, wrote a regular column about security, drug trafficking and corruption.
He is the 13th journalist to have been slain in Mexico since last year.
``Such barbaric attempts to silence the media and, by extension, the voices of citizens and communities must be firmly condemned and punished,” Bokova said.
She also added that, ``we must stand clearly alongside those courageous journalists who, at great risk to themselves and those close to them, are working to keep citizens informed about the forces and events influencing their society''.
UNESCO, which began work in 1946, has a specific mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom.
-0- PANA AA/VAO 1July2011
