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Nine journalists killed this year so far

ISLAMABAD: After an appalling 12 months in 1999 in which 87 journalists and media staff were killed, the year 2000 has already seen more brutal violence.

According to a report of the Federation of International Journalists, released here on Sunday, nine journalists killed in the first nine weeks of the new year.

The first victim was a Sri Lankan journalist who was assassinated just after midnight on December 31, 1999. This was followed by the killing of a publisher in Bangladesh on January 15. He had earlier received death threats.

The suicide by an Ethiopian editor-in-chief clearly related to the continued persecution by the Central Investigation Department on January 18. It was a tragic reminder that there are a variety of ways to silence journalists.

In Turkey, the tortured body of a well-known woman writer was discovered, along with dozens of others, beneath the hideouts of a religious terror group.

Another journalist was shot dead in Somalia on January 26, while reporting in Mogadishu's Bakara market. In Colombia, two journalists were assassinated in early February. A photo-journalist was kidnapped and later reportedly shot in Chechnya on February 20.

On February 24, a Uruguayan news director and radio station owner was murdered.-Internews