The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, today condemned the killing of Palestinian photographer Yaser Murtaja who died on 7 April.
“I condemn the killing of Yaser Murtaja and welcome the decision of the Israeli authorities to investigate this killing”, said the Director-General.
Yaser Murtaja was allegedly shot by Israeli soldiers while he was covering Palestinian protests on the Israeli border on 6 April and died from his injuries the following day.
Murtaja had freelanced for television network Al Jazeera and served as a cameraman for Human Flow, the 2017 documentary on the global refugee crisis directed by renowned Chinese visual artist Ai Weiwei.
UNESCO promotes the safety of journalists through global awareness-raising, capacity-building and a range of actions, notably the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
See also: UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.
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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray@unesco.org, +33 (0)1 45 68 08 91