How many journalists were actually killed in 2001?
Press Freedom organizations
came up with disparate figures for the number of journalists killed in the year
just gone by. Thirty one says Reporters
Sans Frontiere (RSF), 100 says the
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 53 says the International
Press Institute (IPI) and 37 says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The IFJ which named the
highest toll said it was including in the toll figure media staff because it did
not believe in discriminating between journalists and translators, drivers,
technical staff and others. "They must be counted too." RSF left out 27
journalist murders which it said were still under investigation as of January
1st, 2002, with no proof forthcoming that links exist with their professional
activities.
The picture for the
South Asian region culled from the four different reports is as follows. Eight
correspondents were killed in the war in Afghanistan (one organization says 9).
In Nepal where a state
of emergency was decreed at the end of November, more than fifty journalists
and press professionals were arrested by the authorities. (RSF). Seven are
still being held in its jails.
In Bangladesh more than
130 journalists have been attacked by political party activists or
sympathisers. Most of these attacks have been committed by activists of the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamat-e Islami (two members of the ruling
coalition) or the Awami League, which was in power until July. Journalists exposing
corruption, political violence or religious intolerance are their favourite
targets. (RSF)
One journalist was
killed in Bangladesh: Nahar Ali, April 21, at Khulna.
Ali, a
correspondent for the Khulna-based, Bengali-language daily Anirban, died of injuries
sustained in an attack days earlier when masked men kidnapped him, stabbed him,
and beat him severely, breaking his hands and legs, before abandoning him on
the outskirts of his village, according to police. CPJ sources said that Ali
was likely killed for his reporting on the activities of local criminal
syndicates. IPI said 2journalists were killed in B Desh but does not name them.
In India Moolchand
Yadav, a free-lancer, was killed on July 30 in Jhansi.
Yadav, a
free-lance reporter who regularly contributed to Hindi-language dailies
including Jansatta and Punjab Kesari, was shot dead on the street in Jhansi,
Uttar Pradesh. Colleagues said that Yadav had been murdered at the behest of
two powerful landowners who were angered by his exposés of
local
corruption. (CPJ)
In Pakistan authorities
rejected visas for Indian journalist or Indian-born journalists wishing to
cover the Afghani conflict. Two correspondents of American dailies were
expelled from the country for this reason.
The most detailed report on
the state of press freedom throughout the world comes from Reporters Sans
Frontieres. We carry it below.
January 2nd, 2002