Press release
Cairo:9/4/2003

EOHR Calls for Investigations Regarding Attacks on

Journalists in Iraq

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) condemns news it received regarding the deaths of Tariq Ayoob (35), a Jordanian reporter for Al Jazeera in Baghdad and two more journalists south of Baghdad (one of whom is Spanish, the other German).  Those killed were hit by shots fired in a raid targeted at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by American soldiers.  (They had been staying there while covering the war.)  EOHR is deeply concerned about the growing dangers to which journalists in the region have been subjected.  A cameraman (from Al Jazeera, named Zoheir Il Araki) and reporter for Reuters were injured and a number of other journalists from Abu Dhabi and Al Jazeera networks were also under siege.  Information received by EOHR confirms that there still exist threats on journalists, and they are not allowed to communicate with others about them or any other matters concerning them.         

EOHR reiterates its condemnation of the war and calls for a complete cessation of military operations.  We also strongly condemn attacks on journalists in Baghdad as they threaten journalists’ inherent right to life and blatantly violate their right to access and exchange information.  They also violate the Geneva Convention of 1949 concerning the Protection of Civilian Persons In Time of War and its optional protocol.  With this in mind, EOHR supports the International Union of Journalists in its quest to establish a committee whose responsibility it is to address the violations to which journalists are often subject, particularly the right to life and other threats on their personal security.  These violations are war crimes according to the Fourth Geneva Convention.