Iraqi reporter latest victim of violence against women journalists

A courageous Iraqi journalist, who covered sectarian violence in the north of the country, has been murdered in Mosul, the latest victim of attacks against Muslim women reporters and the second Voices of Iraq reporter killed in a week. Sahar Hussein al-Haideri, 45, a top Iraqi reporter working in the perilous Mosul region, who fearlessly wrote about efforts by extremist forces to take control of the city and foment sectarian conflict, was murdered outside her home on June 7. Haideri reported for a Mosul newspaper, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). Her most recent story was a moving feature on the stoning to death of a young Yezidi girl who had converted to Islam after falling in love with a Muslim boy. Haideri had long been concerned about her security, and for the past year had contributed reports to IWPR under a pseudonym. Six months ago, her husband and four children moved to Damascus, and she had recently relocated to Syria herself. She was on a brief visit back to her home in Mosul. Several individuals confronted her as she left her house on June 7 and shot her dead. In two separate incidents, two female journalists were also recently murdered in Kabul. On June 5, Zakia Zaki, 35, a prominent Afghan radio journalist, was shot by three gunmen seven times in front of her 8-year old son, killed as she slept with her 10-month-old baby at her home in Parwan province. None of her six children were hurt in the attack. When the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan in 2001, barring women from education and work outside their houses, Zaki's was the only woman's voice that could be heard near Kabul, on the station Peace Radio. Zaki was one of the few female journalists who spoke out publicly against the Taliban regime, and owned and ran the US-funded station Peace Radio since the US invasion. Zaki had been receiving threats for the last few months demanding that she take the station off the air, said Abdul Jabar Taqwa, the governor of Parwan Province. The nature of the threats was unclear, but she had been involved in women's rights advocacy and political activity. Five days before Zaki's slaying, 22-year-old Shakiba Sanga Amaj, a newsreader for an Afghan TV station was gunned down in her house. Her father, Mohammad Rabi Amaaj said he and the family were still receiving leaflets with threats. "Women journalists have demonstrated particular tenacity and bravery in Afghanistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan and other Islamic countries, reporting on the human costs of conflict and the efforts of mostly male-dominated power structures to undermine democracy," said Anthony Borden, executive director of IWPR, an international not-for-profit organization which supports local journalists in conflict areas and maintains extensive programming in Iraq. "Women are vital agents of democratic change in these societies, and the recent tragic killings demonstrate the depth and violence of opposition to their efforts," he said.