Voices of Iraq
Three journalists working for independent Iraqi news agency Aswat al-Iraq (VOI - Voices of Iraq) have been killed within two weeks of each other. Two of them were shot in targeted attacks and one was killed in a roadside bombing. This brings the total number of media casualties in Iraq since March 2003 to 210, according to records kept by the International News Safety Institute (INSI), www.newssafety.com
The first VOI correspondent to die in the latest attacks was Nezar Abdul Wahid al-Radi. He was attending a workshop for journalists in Ammara, Missan province, on 30 May when three gunmen opened fire on him and five others while they were near the al-Arousa Hotel in the centre of the town. He died immediately. The other journalists survived. Al-Radi, 39, who was married and the father of three children, headed the Young Journalists’ League in Missan and joined VOI in May 2005.
The second correspondent, Sahar Hussein al-Haydari, was killed on 7 June in the al-Hadbaa neighbourhood of Mosul after reportedly being followed and targeted by unidentified gunmen. Al-Haydari, who was born in 1962, worked for a number of Iraqi media institutions and joined VOI in 2004. She is survived by her husband and three daughters.
The third journalist, Aref Ali, 32, was killed on 11 June in a roadside bombing while on assignment near the town of Khalis in Diyala province.
Voices of Iraq operates a network of correspondents throughout the country and provides services in Arabic, Kurdish and English through its website www.aswataliraq.info . It is the only independent national news agency in Iraq and strives to produce balanced coverage from all of the country’s ethnic communities.
Reuters Foundation is deeply saddened by the horrible news of the killing of Sahar al-Haydari, Nezar Abdul Wahid al-Rahdi and Aref Ali. We extend our deepest condolences to their family and their colleagues at Voices of Iraq.