Journalists pay dear price in Arab uprisings

UN says three-quarters of all journalists killed so far this year have lost their lives covering news stories in MENA region.

Middle East Online

GENEVA - UN human rights chief Navi Pillay paid tribute on Tuesday to the heavy price paid by local and international journalists in uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. In an address to mark World Press Freedom Day, Pillay remarked that "three-quarters of all the journalists killed so far this year have lost their lives covering news stories in North Africa and the Middle East." "The media -- old and new, local and international -- have been playing a vital role and also paying a heavy toll in the political upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa over the first four months of 2011." The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that journalists across North Africa and the Middle East "have also been subjected to torture, other forms of violence, mock executions and sexual assault," as well as intimidation, obstruction, deportation, detentions and disappearances. "In all, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there have been at least 450 attacks on journalists in this region alone since the beginning of the year," she added. But while incidents involving foreign journalists resulted in an international outcry, the plight of local journalists and bloggers went relatively unnoticed. "Of the more than 850 journalists killed over the past 20 years, the great majority have been journalists killed in their own countries," after reporting on issues such as corruption, organised crime, politics and human rights, Pillay underlined. "On this World Press Freedom Day, I would like to pay tribute to their courage and their determination to exercise their right to freedom of expression." Four journalists had been killed in Libya, three in Iraq, two in Bahrain and one each in Yemen, Egypt, and Tunisia since January, according to the United Nations. Journalists were also killed in Mexico, the Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam.