Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists killed: venezuelaat a local hospital later in the day.Minister of Information Dahir MohamudGelle told reporters that thesuicide bomber was a suspected Al-Shabaab insurgent who was targetinggovernment ministers attending theceremony at the Hotel Shamo. Gellesaid Health Minister Qamar Aden,Education Minister Ahmed Abdullahi,and Higher Education MinisterIbrahim Hassan were killed. The ministerof sports and tourism, SuleimanOlad Roble, died two days later frominjuries suffered in the attack.Amin, 24, had worked for RadioShabelle for just six months. Both ofhis parents had recently been killed,making him the family’s primary provider.Zubeyr, 29, was a technicianat Radio Shabelle before he left in2006 to work as a cameraman for Al-Arabiya, exiled journalist Babuul Nurtold CPJ. Zubeyr was survived by apregnant wife and four children. Abdulkadir,28, had gained attention inSeptember, when he was the sole photojournalistto cover a suicide attackagainst African Union peacekeepers.SRI LANKA: 2Lasantha WickramatungaThe Sunday LeaderJanuary 8, 2009, near ColomboEight helmeted men on four motorcyclesforced Wickramatunga’s car tothe side of a busy street outside Colomboand beat him with iron barsand wooden poles. He died in a localhospital a few hours later.Wickramatunga, editor-in-chief ofthe weekly The Sunday Leader, was aprominent senior Sri Lankan journalistknown for his critical reporting on thegovernment. According to his brother,Lal Wickramatunga, chairman of thepaper’s parent company, Leader Publications,the editor had received anonymousdeath threats for months.Lasantha Wickramatunga’s wife,Sonali Samarasinghe-Wickramatunga,told the Canadian BroadcastingCorporation that the couple had beenfollowed by two men on a motorcycleas they ran errands that morning. Samarasinghe-Wickramatungaleft SriLanka shortly after her husband’sdeath. The couple had married onlytwo weeks before.Wickramatunga foresaw his ownmurder. In an editorial written shortlybefore his death and published threedays after the murder, he said: “Countlessjournalists have been harassed,threatened, and killed. It has been myhonor to belong to all those categoriesand now especially the last.”Puniyamoorthy SathiyamoorthyFreelanceFebruary 12, 2009, MullaitheevuSathiyamoorthy, a supporter of the secessionistLiberation Tigers of TamilEelam (LTTE), wrote for many pro-Tamil publications and frequentlycontributed to official LTTE media.His live commentaries from conflictA motorcycle-riding assailant shot Sambrano,director of the local political weeklyABC de la Semana and Radio América,at around 3 p.m. outside a video storein Valencia, 95 miles (150 kilometers)west of Caracas, according to local newsreports and CPJ interviews. Sambrano,who was on his way home from RadioAmérica, died from a gunshot wound tothe back of his head, news reports said.Sambrano, 62, a practicing lawyer,had worked as a political columnistfor the local daily Notitarde in thenorth central province of Carabobofor 18 years and was known locallyfor his investigations and commenzoneswere widely seen and heard onpro-Tamil television and radio broadcasts.According to independent Tamilnews sources as well as the LTTE,he was killed in a Sri Lankan artillerybarrage in Mullaitheevu district.Colleagues outside of the conflictarea, not all of them Tamils, said Sathiyamoorthy’sreports and commentarieswere measured, and that he strove tomaintain journalistic standards and anaccurate representation of the wartimesituations in which he found himself.His work had global impact, reachinglarge numbers of Tamils living overseas.Born in 1972, he eventually movedto Jaffna but traveled throughout theareas controlled by the LTTE duringthe conflict. He was married and wasthe father of a 6-year-old girl. SeveralTamil media reports said Sathiyamoorthydid not die immediately. They citedrelatives who said a lack of proper medicalattention contributed to his death.TURKEY: 1Cihan HayırsevenerGüney Marmara’da YaşamDecember 19, 2009, BandirmaHayırsevener, 53, founder and editorof the daily Güney Marmara’da Yaşam,was shot three times in the leg whilewalking to his office in the town ofBandirma, northeast of Istanbul, atabout 3 p.m., according to news reportsand CPJ interviews. He died later thatday at the Uludağ University Hospitalin Bursa.Umit Babacan, an editor at GüneyMarmara’da Yaşam, told CPJ thatHayırsevener had received recent,anonymous death threats in connectionwith his journalism. Hayırsevenerhad reported on corruption chargesinvolving the owners of İlkhaber,another major daily in Bandirma,the Hurriyet Daily News reported.Three principals in İlkhaber had beenimprisoned on charges of acceptingcash payouts from a former mayor, thepaper said. In late December, policesaid they had identified three suspects,news reports said.VENEZUELA: 1Orel Sambrano, ABC de la Semanaand Radio AméricaJanuary 16, 2009, Valencia270271