Authored by: Nora Abd El-Moshen
Threats against journalists have recently rocketed waylaying the rights they enjoyed to ensure doing their job freely, particularly in the states witnessing dictatorial regimes or armed conflicts. Such violations occur in spite of the existence of the international organizations and the international community organizations defending journalists’ rights as well as international laws that guarantee their freedom. Yet, the role played by these organizations is still minor and limited to condemning the crimes committed against journalists. In such a fragile international environment, some states repress journalism and restrict journalists’ freedom to prevent them from doing their jobs in a way that shows the authoritarian officials’ corruption, misappropriation of people’s money and suppression of freedoms and opinions.
They would sometimes resort to journalists’ assassination in case threats did not succeed in stopping them from doing their job that distorts authorities’ image in the eyes of peoples and international community. One of the prominent cases among them is the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, and Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist, not to mention many other journalists who met the same fate without being avenged
Reasons and objectives behind such assassinations are similar. At the end, they are summarized in journalists’ disclosure of officials’ corruption in a way that jeopardizes their power and makes the shadow of dismissal loom before their eyes. Thus, such officials find no way to silence journalists and keep their mouths shut except by threatening them and endangering their lives then assassinating them in case threats have been in vain.
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