IFJ mourns death of photojournalist in Iraq

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 17 January 2018

Saad Hadi Al-Mashrafawi, a 40-year-old photojournalist, has died from injuries sustained in a car bomb explosion in Iraq. The IFJ and IJS call for better journalist safety measures.

Summary

BRUSSELS - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) together with its affiliate the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate (IJS) mourn the death of photojournalist Saad Hadi Al-Mashrafawi on 14 January after being severely injured in a bomb blast.

Saad Hadi Al-Mashrafawi, 40, worked as a photojournalist for Al-Shabab News Agency and Souq Al-Shuyoukh website. He got severely injured last week in a car bomb while reporting on fighting in the province of Salah al-Din close to Baghdad.

The journalist died from his injuries at the hospital in Al-Nasiriya.

Al-Mashrafawi is the second journalist killed so far in 2018. Iraq was the third deadliest country for media workers last year with a total of 11 deaths of journalists, according to IFJ Killed List.

IJS said: “The Iraqi Journalists Syndicate mourns their colleague photojournalist Saad Hadi Al-Mashrafawi who died due to an injury sustained by a car bomb.”

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “The IFJ sends its sincere condolences to Saad Hadi Al-Mashrafawi’s family and colleagues and urges for further investigation into this killing. Once again, we reiterate our concerns over the scale of the safety crisis facing journalists in Iraq caused by the ongoing war. We call on Iraqi officials to honour their commitment to the IFJ to strengthen journalists’ safety. We also urge media organisations in Iraq to provide full safety provisions to our colleagues on the ground.” – IFJ media release