JANUARY- FEBRUARY- MARCH- APRIL- MAY- JUNE- JULY- AUGUST- SEPTEMBER- OCTOBER- NOVEMBER- DECEMBER

JOURNALISTS KILLED

JANUARY 6 January - India - Prahlad Goala Prahlad Goala was apparently murdered in India's northeastern state of Assam. Goala had recently written a series of articles on corruption in the Assamese-language daily Asomiya Khabar that linked local forestry service officials to timber smuggling. Goala, 32, was riding a motorcycle near his home in eastern Assam's Golaghat district when he was apparently rammed by a truck. When police arrived at the scene, they found that Goala had been stabbed several times. 20 January - Philippines - Rolly Canete Unidentified gunmen killed radio broadcaster and political publicist Rolly Canete in the southern Philippine city of Pagadian. The attackers fled on a motorcycle. Canete was a part-time broadcaster on three radio stations, two of which are controlled by congressman Antonio Cerilles and his wife provincial governor Aurora Cerilles. 21 January - Philippines - Graciano Aquino Former radio newsman, Graciano Aquino was shot dead in a cockfight arena in Sitio Panibatuan in Barangay Poblacion. Armed attackers, reportedly members of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines-Rebolusyonaryong Hukbo ng Bayan, approached Aquino and shot him at close range in the nape of the neck. Aquino, columnist of the local newspaper Central Luzon Forum, had also formerly been a reporter of radio station, dzRH. 24 January - Sri Lanka - Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan Mr. Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, popularly known as SSR, a part-time provincial journalist working for the Tamil language daily Sudaroli was shot dead in Eastern port city of Trincomalee. He was 35 years and father of two children aged three and two. Assailants were on a motorbike and fired at him from close range. 24 January - Iraq - Mahmoud Za'al Mahmoud Za'al, who worked for Baghdad TV satellite channel, was filming an attack on two buildings occupied by U.S. forces in Ramadi when he was wounded in the legs and then killed moments later in a U.S. air strike Baghdad TV, which is owned by the biggest Sunni political grouping, the Iraqi Islamic Party, confirmed Za'al's death and said it was investigating the circumstances. The U.S. military said it was checking the report. Witnesses said at noon on Tuesday gunmen began firing mortar rounds at the governorate directorate building and the Iraqi Nationality Department, both bases for U.S. forces. The gunmen also blasted the buildings with heavy machineguns and rocket propelled grenades, they said. "When they got very close to these buildings, helicopters and other military planes started shooting at them," one witness said. "The cameraman was in the streets to film the clashes when he was wounded, first in his legs, and then when U.S. planes started shooting he was killed." 30 January - Guyana - Ronald Waddell Ronald Waddell, a former talk-show host on HBTV Channel 9, was gunned down outside his home in the Georgetown suburb of Subryanville. Waddell was getting into his car in the garage of his home at about 8 p.m. (local time) when two men armed with .38 and .32 calibre pistols emerged from a car parked on the other side of the street and shot him 13 times. Hit in the head, back and chest, Waddell died in a Georgetown hospital. A former reporter with the "Stabroek News" daily newspaper, Waddell had been hosting a talk-show on HBTV Channel 9 since 2001. He was also an active member of the People's National Congress (PNC), which is strongly backed by Afro-Guyanese, and was a fierce critic of President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is of Asian descent. FEBRUARY 02 February - China - Wu Xianghu Wu Xianghu, 41, who was the deputy editor of the Taizhou Evening News in Taizhou, died of liver and kidney failure in a Hangzhou hospital. Wu Xianghu had been in hospital since police beat him in October after the release of a report about the unreasonable charges associated with acquiring drivers' licences in Taizhou's Jiaojiang district. He was then beaten by 50 police officers. 13 February - Ecuador - José Luis León Desiderio Jose Luis Leon Desiderio, 43, was shot three times by a group of individuals who intercepted him near his home on block 15 of Bastion Popular, a poor urban area of northern Guayaquil. Leon was a well-known journalist who began his career with the newspaper El Telegrafo 22 years ago and later worked for a number of radio stations, including Z1 and Radio Minutera, where he presented the show Opinion, on which, according to Hugo Asencio, a friend and colleague of the victim at Z1 Radio, allegations were made and "he would speak out against crime, which in Guayaquil is unstoppable and no official is doing anything about it", Asencio said. The journalist said that this could be the motive for his colleague's murder, as his belongings were found next to his body at the scene of the crime. "They didn't steal anything, his things were there. The murder was unquestionably an act of revenge and nothing more", Asencio said. 14 February - Ecuador - Raúl Sanchez Sandoval Freelance photographer Raúl Sanchez Sandoval, who contributed to the dailies "La Hora Durandeña" and "La Prensa de Durán", was shot dead on 14 February 2006 in Durán, a suburb of Guayaquil in southwestern Ecuador, 24 hours after the killing in the same city of José Luis León Desiderio, of Radio Minutera. Witnesses, quoted by several Ecuadorian dailies, saw Sanchez Sandoval being approached by a man in a car and the two men exchanged a few words. The driver then pulled out a gun and opened fire. The journalist was hit by two bullets in the spine, a third in the right leg and a fourth in the abdomen. He died shortly after arrival at the Luis Vernaza hospital in Guayaquil. The dead man's brother, Héctor Suárez, stressed that nothing had been stolen from him and that the murder may be linked to his profession. His brother had apparently told him that he was being followed for several days. However, there has also been speculation that the motive for the attack may have been that the journalist allegedly owed money to some Colombians. 23 February - Iraq - Atwar Bahjat 23 February - Iraq - Khaled Mahmoud Al Falahi Correspondent Atwar Bahjat and cameraman Khaled Mahmoud Al Falahi of the Al-Arabiya Television disappeared after giving a last live on 22 February. Iraqi police confirmed that they were kidnapped and then assassinated in Samarra. The police sources said that a person who was with them managed to escape from the gunmen. The journalists were covering the attack on the shrine of the two Shi'i imams, Ali al-Hadi and Al-Hasan al-Askari, north of Baghdad. 26 February - Russia - Ilya Zimin NTV television channel Special correspondent Ilya Zimin has been killed in Moscow. His body covered in blood was found in his flat. Zimin used to work for the Vladivostok state television and radio company. In 1995 he was appointed chief of the NTV Far East bureau. Since 2000, he has been working for NTV in Moscow, later for TV6, TVS and then returned to NTV. MARCH 8 March - Iraq - Monsif al-Khalidi Monsif al-Khalidi of Baghdad TV, was shot dead at the wheel of his car by gunmen on the road from Baghdad to the northern city of Mosul. 9 March - Mexico - Jaime Arturo Olvera Bravo Olvera, a freelance photographer and former correspondent for the Morelia-based daily La Voz de Michoacán, was shot to death outside his home in La Piedad in the central state of Michoacán. Olvera left his home around 8 p.m. with his 5-year-old son. While they were waiting at a bus stop, an unknown assailant approached Olvera and fired at close range, according to local press reports. A bullet struck Olvera in the neck, and he died at the scene. His son was unharmed. Olvera worked for La Voz de Michoacán until April 2002 when he resigned to become a salesman for a processed meat company, the paper reported. But Olvera continued working as a freelancer, providing photographs and crime tips to local media, the Mexico City-based El Universal said. The special prosecutor for crimes against journalists opened a preliminary investigation and said it would formally take the case if it finds evidence that Olvera’s murder was related to his journalism. 10 March - Russia - Marina Tsakhilova The body of journalist Marina Tsakhilova has been found with traces of a violent death in Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia). The prosecutor's office of the North Ossetian capital's Promyshlennyy municipal district has launched criminal proceedings into the murder. Marina Tsakhilova worked for the republic's newspapers and was known among her colleagues as author of critical articles. 11 March - Iraq - Amjad Hameed Amjad Hameed, a journalist for Iraqiya television, was attacked by gunmen who shot him in the head and chest while he was being driven to his job. His driver, Anwar Turki, died later in the hospital. 13 March - Brazil - José Késsio José Késsio was was shot 11 times by a man with a 9 mm pistol who came looking for him at Amambay FM, the local radio station he worked for in Ponta Porã, on the Paraguayan border. 13 March - Iraq - Muhsin Kudayyir Muhsin Khudayyir, also known as Abu Risalah, chief editor of the weekly magazine Alif Ba, was assassinated by unidentified persons who attacked him late at night in his place of residence in Al-Ilam district in Baghdad. 19 March - Colombia - Gustavo Rojas Gabalo Journalist Gustavo Rojas Gabalo died after a lengthy struggle to survive injuries inflicted during an attempt on his life in Montería, capital of Córdoba department. On 4 February, a man approached and shot Gustavo Rojas Gabalo twice, once in the head and once in the collarbone. The assailant then fled on a motorcycle with another unidentified person who had been waiting nearby. Rojas, 56, had nine children. His first programme was "Este es Córdoba". His second programme, "Sinfonía de Acordeones", later renamed "El Show de Gaba", was on air for 25 years. It combined music and social commentary, including criticisms of successive municipal governments and Córdoba department politicians. 26 March - Iraq - Kamal Manahi Anbar Kamal Manahi Anbar, 28, enrolled in a training program run by the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting, was killed during a controversial military raid in northern Baghdad. The killing took place on March 26, after Anbar went to Baghdad's Shaab neighborhood to conduct interviews for a story. Armored Humvees arrived and a firefight broke out. Anbar was shot through the right cheekbone. APRIL 04 April - India - Gulam Khwaja Gulam Khwaja, journalist of a Hindi daily was killed in a road accident at Mughalsarai near Varanai. Khwaja, who was in his early 30s and was serving as the Mughalsarai correspondent of 'Amar Ujala', was returning by car after attending a function in Varanasi when the accident occurred. 05 April - Venezuela - Jose Aguirre Jose Aguirre, Venezuelan photographer working for El Mundo newspaper, was fatally shot while covering protests of the kidnapping and murders of three Canadian boys and their driver. The photographer was driving his car to the Central University of Venezuela where the protests were taking place, when "an apparent police officer on a motorcycle without license plates stopped him". When Aguirre got out of his car, which was clearly marked as a press vehicle, the supposed officer fired three times, once in Aguirre's thorax, and fled. 08 April - Zambia - Jack Situma Jack Situma, a Kenyan journalist who was in his 40's, was filming an In-flight magazine and video for Kenyan Airways in Zambia, when a banana boat he was in along with 14 others capsized. Situma was a seasoned specialist reporter in tourism. His body was found floating on the Zambezi River 11 April - Nigeria - Fred Agwu Fred Agwu, photo journalist covering the Gateway Games, died after he was knocked down by a hit and run vehicle. The incident happened in front of the MKO Abiola Stadium while Agwu was looking for a vehicle to convey him back to his hotel. Eyewitness account said that Agwu and another colleague, Akpan Williams of the Pan African Magazine, Lagos were standing in front of the stadium when the driver of the pick up lost control and ran into them. 14 April - Colombia - Jairo Munoz Jairo Muñoz, journalist from Telecinco, was covering flooding in the way from Cali to the Pacific port of Buenaventura, when a mudslide dragged him. 15 April - Turkey - Ilyas Aktas Ilyas Aktas, a young, unpaid journalist with the far-left fortnightly Devrimci Demokrasi (Revolutionary Democracy), shot in the head during clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish protesters in Diyarbakir died. Aktas, who had been working as the newspaper’s correspondent in the region for two months, was shot while covering a demonstration in support of 14 Kurdish rebels who had been killed a few days earlier by Turkish troops. The newspaper’s editor, Erdal Guler, said witnesses told him Aktas was hit when police opened fire on the crowd of demonstrators. 22 April - Iraq - Koussai Kahdban Koussai Kahdban, an Iraqi journalist with local radio station Al-Bilad, was shot by gunmen on 22 April in Baghdad. 29 April - Thailand - Thanarat Saengthien Thanarat Saengthien, a special correspondent for Channel 7 was accidentally shot dead when the demonstration of a military-style drill in Phitsanulok went wrong. He was shot while talking with other reporters after filming the closing ceremony of the 2006 Search and Rescue Expo. Thanarat died shortly after he was transported to Buddha Shinarat Hos-pital. The accident occurred while six armed soldiers were performing a drill. Their rifles were supposed to fire blanks, but investigators said one of them might have been loaded with real bullets. 29 April - Indonesia - Herliyanto A local tabloid journalist in East Java was murdered on April 29, three days before the commemoration on World Press Freedom Day, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) reported. Herliyanto, 38, was found dead in a forest near Tarokan, a village near the town of Banyuanyar, Probolinggo District. Police believe that he was stabbed to death. Initial police investigation revealed that before the murder, Herliyanto was followed by six people riding motorcycles. Some peculiarities were also noted like the victim’s motorcycle was found not far from the body but his camera and notebook were missing. Herliyanto’s murder is believed to be work-related. According to a TV 7 investigation, he was actively reporting on corruption in the administration of subsidies for the poor and school funding in Tulupari (a village in the town of Tiris, also in Probolinggo District) before his death. Some of his colleagues testified that they had received a brief text message from Herliyanto’s mobile phone saying funds were being misused in Tulupari, which was in an area he covered for his newspaper. MAY 02 May - Philippines - Nicholas Cervantes Nicholas Cervantes, 66, a newspaper columnist of a provincial newspaper in Surigao province in the southern Philippines, was killed by unidentified gunmen. Cervantes had just emerged from his residence in Mandaluyong City in metro Manila when gunmen aboard a car fired at him. The victim suffered three gunshot wounds in the chest and was declared dead on arrival upon reaching a nearby hospital. 05 May - Iraq - Sa'd Shammari Sa'd Shammari, a TV journalist who hosted a show on the Al-Iraqiyah channel, was found wrapped in a blanket and dumped on the side of a road in Baghdad. The journalist was apparently strangled. 05 May - Iraq - Sa'ud M'Zahim Al-Hudaythi Sa'ud M'Zahim Al-Hudaythi, working for Baghdadiyah TV, was killed. Circumstances are unknown. 07 May - Iraq - Layth Mish'an al-Dulaymi The bodies of journalist Layth Mish'an al-Dulaymi and Mu'azzaz Ahmad Barud, a switchboard attendant, were found near the Al-Wihdah irrigation project in their hometown of Al-Mada'in, southeast of Baghdad. They were employed by the private Al-Nahrayn television channel and were first abducted by elements wearing Iraqi Police uniforms and riding in Police vehicles. Source cited eyewitnesses as saying that the two were heading for the city of Al-Mada'in when they were stopped by gunmen wearing Iraqi Police uniforms and led to an undisclosed location. 07 May - Iraq - Abid Shakir al-Dulaymi In Basra gunmen shot dead photographer Abid Shakir al-Dulaymi. He was an active member of the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate, and he worked at Al-Jumhuriyah and Al-Qadisiyah newspapers and was an occasional freelance for Reuters. 10 May - Iraq - Abbas Ahmed Kadhem Abbas Ahmed Kadhem, journalist at al Adaalah (Justice) newspaper, was found dead in al Madaen. This is the same district where Laith Mashaan and Muazaz Ahmed were murdered Sunday May 7th. The journalist, 50 years of age, worked for al Adaalha newspaper, the voice of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He had previously worked for Babel newspaper, which was owned by Uday, the son of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. He had also worked as a school teacher. He was married with children. 16 May - Philippines - Albert Orsolino Unidentified gunmen killed Orsolino in Caloocan City. The gunmen were onboard a Toyota FX Asian utility vehicle (WFR-245) when they blocked Delino’s path around 11 a.m. Orsolino was driving a white Toyota Corolla (CRB-122) sedan near a gasoline station at the boundary of Caloocan’s Letre district and Malabon City along the C-4 Road. The assailants opened fire at Orsolino, who sustained at least five gunshot wounds to his body. Police said the gunmen used .45-cal. pistols. 18 May - Iraq - Sadek al-Shammari Sadek al-Shammari of the German-based news organization, Iraqi News Network, was shot dead by insurgents in Jisr Diyala, south of the Iraqi capital.