Fewer journalists killed, more jailed in 2002

30 Mar 2003 22:59:43 GMT By Irwin Arieff

NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - The number of journalists killed in the line of duty fell to a 17-year low in 2002 but the number imprisoned rose for the second year in a row, an international media watchdog group said on Sunday.

Nineteen journalists died around the world last year while carrying out their jobs, including three each in Colombia, Russia and the Palestinian West Bank, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

That was down sharply from 2001 -- when 37 were killed, including eight in Afghanistan alone -- and the lowest number to die as a result of their work since the group began tracking the annual death toll in 1985.

Ann Cooper, the group's executive director, attributed the decline to the relative quiet in Afghanistan and progress toward peace in Sri Lanka, Angola and elsewhere, reducing the risk faced by journalists covering violent conflicts.

However, the West Bank was "a dramatic exception," Cooper said in "Attacks on the Press," the group's annual report.

"Three journalists there were killed by gunfire from Israeli Defense Forces and several more were wounded," she said.

The committee investigates all reports before including them in its report, to ensure that deaths are related to the journalists' work. It includes editors, publishers and news directors in its count as well as reporters and writers, so long as they cover the news or comment on it in print, photographs, radio, television or on the Web.

136 IN JAIL AT YEAR'S END

The watchdog group said 136 journalists were in jail at the end of 2002. That was 15 percent more than at the end of 2001 and a 68 percent increase from the 81 imprisoned at the close of 2000.

For the fourth consecutive year, China was the world's leading jailer of journalists, holding 39 in cells as of the end of last year, the group reported.

Eritrea was Africa's biggest jailer of journalists. President Isayas Afewerki banned the entire independent press corps in September 2001, accusing them of "endangering national unity," the group said.

Eighteen journalists were subsequently imprisoned without charge and when they launched a hunger strike in protest in March 2002, they were moved to unknown sites and have not been heard from since, the committee said.

Among last year's dead was Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal, whose throat was slit by his kidnappers in Pakistan.

Shot and killed in Colombia during the year were Orlando Sierra Hernandez, Hector Sandoval and Efrain Varela Noriega.

Killed in Russia were Natalya Skryl, dead from head injuries suffered in an attack, Valery Ivanov, shot dead, and Roddy Scott, slain in fighting in the republic of Ingushetia.

Slain in the Palestinian territories in 2002 were Raffaele Ciriello, Imad Abu Zahra and Issam Tillawi, all killed by Israeli gunfire.

Edgar Damalerio and Sonny Alcantara were both shot and killed in the line of duty in the Philippines.

Other journalists killed in 2002 in the line of duty included Harunur Rashid, ambushed by gunmen in Bangladesh; Tim Lopes, murdered by drug traffickers in Brazil; Ram Chander Chaterpatti, dead of gunshot wounds after an assassination attempt in India; Nava Raj Sharma, kidnapped and killed by Maoist rebels in Nepal; Shahid Soomro, assassinated in Pakistan; Jimmy Higenyi, killed while covering a rally in Uganda, and Jorge Ibrain Tortoza Cruz, shot while covering a violent protest in Venezuela.