United Nations cultural organisation UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay on Monday urged Iraq's authorities to carry out a thorough probe of the killing of Nizar Thanoun, chief executive officer of Iraqi satellite broadcaster Al-Rasheed TV earlier this month.
“I condemn the murder of Nizar Thanoun," said Azoulay.
“I call on the authorities to investigate this attack on press freedom and freedom of expression. It is important for Iraqi society as a whole that the perpetrators of this crime be brought to justice.”
Thanoun was gunned down in front of his home in western Baghdad on 11 February - a day before the end of the government’s three-month suspension of several broadcasters including Al-Rasheed TV, which is owned by opposition leader Saad Assim al-Janabi, head of the Iraqi Republican Assembly Party.
Thanoun was a senior member of the Iraqi Republican Assembly Party, according to an obituary post on Facebook by al-Janabi cited by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) press watchdog.
Al-Rasheed TV was among eight outlets that were suspended in November by Iraq’s media regulator over their critical coverage of protests against alleged government mismanagement.
On January 10, Dijlah TV reporter Ahmed Abdul Samad and camera operator Safaa Ghali were killed after unknown gunmen opened fire on their car in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra, the CPJ reported at the time. Dijlah TV was among media shuttered by the government in November.
The CPJ urged Iraq's government to investigate Thanoun, Samad and Ghali's murders and to bring their killers to justice.
