UNESCO Director-General deplores deaths of three Egyptian journalists
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova denounced the deaths of reporter Ahmed Abdel Gawad and photographer Mosab Al-Shami in Cairo in August 14, and journalist Tamer Abdel Raouf, at Damanhur in the north of Egypt on 19 August. The Director-General called for a thorough investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the three killings.
“I deplore the deaths of Ahmed Abdel Gawad, Mosab Al-Shami and Tamer Abdel Raouf,” Irina Bokova said. She expressed her distress and concern over the violence directed against the media in Egypt, where five media professionals were killed while carrying out their duties in the space of a few days. “This is an issue of freedom of expression and information,” Ms. Bokova said. “ I call on the Egyptian authorities to do everything possible to ensure the security of media workers.”
According to Reporters Without Borders, Ahmed Abdel Gawad, who worked for the Egyptian daily Al-Akhbar, and Mosab Al-Shami, a photojournalist for Rassd News Network (RNN), were killed while covering demonstrations in the capital. Both died from gunshot injuries.
Reporters Without Borders reports that Tamer Abdel Raouf, regional director of Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper, was shot dead at a vehicle checkpoint in Damanhur, in the Beheira Governorate in northern Egypt, on the night of 19 August. Another journalist in the car, Hamed Al-Barbari, from the daily Al-Gomhuria, was injured.
These three deaths bring to six the number of journalists killed in Egypt this year. They are remembered on the dedicated webpage UNESCO remembers assassinated journalists.
Source: UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
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