Director-General condemns killing of Iraqi TV-workers Musab Mahmood al-Ezawi, Ahmed Salim, Ihab Mu'd & Qaydar Sulaiman

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsurra, today condemned the killing of three Iraqi journalists and a media worker of al-Sharqiya television in Mosul on 13 September and exhorted the authorities to give priority to measures that protect the media.

“I condemn the killing of Musab Mahmood al-Ezawi, Ahmed Salim, Ihab Mu’d and Qaydar Sulaiman,” the Director-General said. “These killings are yet another intolerable attack on the Iraqi people’s struggle to rebuild their country and establish a democratic society. In view of the importance for democracy of freedom of expression and informed public debate, I call on the authorities to give priority to finding effective measures to protect the media.”

Musab Mahmood al-Ezawi, a senior correspondent with al-Sharqiya, cameramen Ahmed Salim and Ihab Mu'd, and their driver, Qaydar Sulaiman, were part of a larger crew that was filming a show in Mosul, when they were kidnapped, according to a statement issued by al-Sharqiya.

Their bodies were later found a short distance from the site of the kidnapping, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. All the victims are reported to have been in their twenties.

UNESCO is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this purpose the Organization is required to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”

• Author(s):Press Release n°2008-85
• Source:UNESCOPRESS
• 24-09-2008