https://www.cpj.org/killed/2014/
Here-in lies a link that supplements most of the information I have compiled below. The website is very easy to navigate. On the home page is a giant map of the world. There is a bar graph underneath the map that lists the amount of deaths during each year from 1992 to current. By clicking on a year you can see a list of countries that have journalist murder cases followed by the amount. Click on a country and a long list of names of journalists will pop up along with who they worked for. Each of these deaths has a story to tell. It is up to the living to judge their fate.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has on their official website a collection of journalism murders both confirmed and unconfirmed. I chose this link because it has an interactive graph listing the names of journalists who were reported to be murdered between 1992 and 2015, and who they worked for. The names are split up into two categories.
Motive Confirmed: A journalist is murdered in direct relation to their line of work. The CPJ only labels these individuals when they are reasonably certain that are killed while in the line of fire in a combat zone, killed during street protests, or any other myriad of ways that implies they have become a target.
Motive Unconfirmed: These are either ongoing investigations or the result of when a journalist is killed in an accident such a car collision or airplane crash. Although there might not be any insinuation of foul play, it is also possible that journalists can be killed covertly by staging or creating these types of accidents. Which is why there are investigated to begin with.
Note: There are 3 categories of Deaths.
~Crossfire/Combat: Dying on a battlefield or in the midst of a firefight.
~Dangerous Assignments: Deaths resulting from mobs rioting during demonstrations or clashes between rival mobs. Possibly covering a beat in a country ruled by a dictator or even in an area where warlords or drug lords seize control.
~Murder: The premeditated or spontaneous targeting and slaying of a journalist in direct relation to their work.
((Impunity in murder cases show that no convictions were obtained. Partial justice is when only a portion of those responsible are brought to justice. Full justice is the detaining and conviction of all persons responsible for the crime, both master mind and perpetrators.))
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In the early to mid 90's, we saw a great influx of journalism murders in places like Russia, Algeria, Somalia, Turkey, and Rwanda. The Eastern hemisphere was festering with the murders of journalists.
After the turn of the century we began seeing some drastic changes to these numbers. The war in Iraq has taken it's toll shortly after beginning. The most amount of journalists killed in any period of time between 1992 and 2015 was 2007. In 2007, 32 of the 70 motive confirmed murders were in Iraq. That's nearly half in one country alone. ((There were a total of 112 journalist deaths that year))
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(Key: Green = Murder / Lavender = Killed in Crossfire / Orange = Dangerous Assignment )
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Mahran al-Deeri: A few short years later in 2012, 31 journalists were killed in Syria. Nearly every journalists killed in Syria were killed covering war. For instance, Mahran al-Deeri who worked for Al-Jazeera was killed in a car accident. His car collided into a truck being driven by rebel fighters. His headlights were off to try to avoid being shot at by the Government.
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In August of 2014, a journalist by the name of James Foley made headlines when he was executed in Syria by the terrorist organization called ISIS. (More on that above)
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Andrea Rocchelli: May 24th, 2014. Andreyevka, Ukraine.
That same year, many journalists were killed in Syria and Ukraine during intense fire fights. Andrea Rocchelli was one such journalist. He was an Italian photo journalist that was killed in a battle between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists. After his car had received small arms fire and got barraged with artillery shells, him and his fixer Andrei Mironov fled the vehicle to a nearby ditch. It was there a mortar shell landed nearby, killing both of them with a shrapnel blast. William Roguelon was a French photo journalist that was with Andrea; he survived the attack by the skin of his teeth.
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Raffaele Ciriello: September 2002, Ramallah, Israel.
Was an Italian freelance photographer working an assignment for Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily news paper. In 2002, he found himself caught in the
crossfire between the Israeli Defense Force and Palestinians in Ramallah,
Israel. The Palestinian uprising began
in September of 2000 and Raffaele is the first foreign journalist to have been
killed during the uprising. Emerging
from the end of a street nearly 200 yards away, an Israeli tank spotted
Raffaele stepping out of a building. He
pointed his camera towards the tank and the tank opened fire with a mounted
machine gun, hitting him six times. He
died on the spot. There was only one
Palestinian gunman spotted in the vicinity of Raffaele at the time. An IDF spokesperson responded to Ciriello's
death by stating it was a closed militay zone and any journalists who entered
would only be "endangering themselves."
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Steven Sotloff: September
2nd, 2014. Unknown, Syria.
A militant group calling themselves Islamic State released a
video of the beheading of freelance journalist Steven Sotloff. He was the second American (Had dual
Ameican/Israeli citizenship) to be murdered by the Islamic State. He had been killed in retribution for
American airstrikes focused on ousting militant forces from key areas during
August, same as James Foley. He and his
Syrian fixer were abducted while crossing the Turkish-Syrian border. The Syrians were let go, but Steven remained
hostage for over a year along with a few other international journalists; James
Foley among them. Steven was butchered
on camera while wearing an orange jump suit, similarly to Mr. Foley.
- Molhem Barakat: December 20th, 2013. Aleppo, Syria.
Molhem was an 18 year freelance photo journalist who was killed during a rebel assualt on Kindi Hospital. The hospital had been turned into a military barracks by the Government. The siege began when two suicide bombers detonated within the building. Barakat was in a neighboring carpet factory with his brother, who happened to be a rebel. Both were killed in the factory. The Aleppo Media Center later released images of Barakat's blood stained camera. Molhem quite young to be a journalist. His death was an unfortunate loss.
- Mick Deane: August 14th, 2013. Cairo, Egypt.
Mick Deane was a Sky News cameraman who was shot and killed by security forces as they stormed into a sit-in demonstration at Rabaa Adawiya, in Nasr city, Cairo. Those demonstrating at the rally were supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the Egyptian Health Ministry, there were approximately 149 deaths resulting from the clashes in the capital alone. The violence spread rampant throughout the country during the revolution. The Muslim Brotherhood later stated that the death toll during the clashing was actually much higher. Between working in Washington D.C. and Jerusalem, Mick had 15 years under his belt. The crew he was with in Egypt were all safe. He was the only casualty in their crew that day.
- Hayatullah Khan: June 16th, 2006. Miran Shah, Pakistan.
Khan was a Pakistani who reported from Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Khan wrote extensively on Al-Qaeda and Taliban and about heavy fighting among tribes in Waziristan. He was abducted 6 months before his death back in the 5th of December, 2005. Five gunmen ran his car off the road as his younger brother watched helplessly from a distance as they dragged him off. The day before his abduction, Khan was taking photographs of what appeared to be the remnants of a U.S. made Hellfire missile released from a drone that struck a house just four days before his abduction. Inside the house was senior Al-Qaeda figure Hamza Rabia. Khan was discovered at the age of 32, handcuffed and shot multiple times. He had grown a long beard since the last time he was seen and his body had become frail, possibly from malnutrition.
Originally upon reading on his death, I had thought Al-Qaeda or the Taliban might have had something to do with his disappearance. During his six-month disappearance Pakistani government officials had provided his family with very contradictory accounts of his whereabouts. On their account he had been in government custody, soon to be released, got abducted by "miscreants"; got taken by Waziristan Mujahideen, somehow got flown to a military base and was detained at Kohat air base.
Things got interesting when the medical workers at the hospital released new information to Khan's family. They said he had six bullet wounds and interestingly enough, the handcuffs that were clasped to one of his wrists was typically used by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. No autopsy was performed. The Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. said the evidence was circumstantial. That they were planted by the enemy to incriminate the government. The case was brought to High Court and afterwards the results were not made public. Something about this case seems awry.
Khan's widow was killed in November of 2007. A bomb was detonated just outside of her home, killing her instantly. Kind of makes you wonder.
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( to be continued... )
