Journalists continue to pay heavy price in Syria

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 5 December 2012

Recent deaths of two journalists in Syria underscore the severe risks they face in a perilous environment. The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses concern over these tragedies.

Summary

NEW YORK: An editor for a state-run paper and a reporter for a pro-opposition weekly died in Syria in recent days, lifting the death toll in the world's most dangerous place for the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

"Journalists in Syria face myriad risks from multiple sources including targeted killings and the deadly crossfire of combat," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. "We call on all sides of this conflict to afford journalists the civilian protections they are entitled to under international law."

Naji Asaad, editor for the state-run daily Tishreen, was shot in the head by a sniper outside his home in the Tadamoun neighborhood of Damascus o0n December 4, according to the state news agency SANA and other pro-government news outlets. SANA reported that the journalist was killed by "armed terrorist groups," a catch-all phrase the regime has used to describe all armed opposition fighters.

Mohamed Quratem, a reporter for the local pro-opposition weekly Enab Baladi (The Grapes of My Country), was killed in government shelling of the Damascus suburb of Darya on November 28, according to his employer and the pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya.

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