How many journalists were actually killed in 2001?

How many journalists were actually killed in 2001?

Press Freedom organizations came up with disparate figures for the number of journalists killed in the year just gone by.  Thirty one says Reporters Sans Frontiere (RSF), 100 says the  International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 53 says the International Press Institute (IPI) and 37 says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The IFJ which named the highest toll said it was including in the toll figure media staff because it did not believe in discriminating between journalists and translators, drivers, technical staff and others. "They must be counted too." RSF left out 27 journalist murders which it said were still under investigation as of January 1st, 2002, with no proof forthcoming that links exist with their professional activities.

The picture for the South Asian region culled from the four different reports is as follows. Eight correspondents were killed in the war in Afghanistan (one organization says 9).

In Nepal where a state of emergency was decreed at the end of November, more than fifty journalists and press professionals were arrested by the authorities. (RSF). Seven are still being held in its jails.

In Bangladesh more than 130 journalists have been attacked by political party activists or sympathisers. Most of these attacks have been committed by activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamat-e Islami (two members of the ruling coalition) or the Awami League, which was in power until July. Journalists exposing corruption, political violence or religious intolerance are their favourite targets. (RSF)

One journalist was killed in Bangladesh: Nahar Ali, April 21, at Khulna.

Ali, a correspondent for the Khulna-based, Bengali-language daily Anirban, died of injuries sustained in an attack days earlier when masked men kidnapped him, stabbed him, and beat him severely, breaking his hands and legs, before abandoning him on the outskirts of his village, according to police. CPJ sources said that Ali was likely killed for his reporting on the activities of local criminal syndicates. IPI said 2journalists were killed in B Desh but does not name them.

In India Moolchand Yadav, a free-lancer, was killed on July 30 in Jhansi.

Yadav, a free-lance reporter who regularly contributed to Hindi-language dailies including Jansatta and Punjab Kesari, was shot dead on the street in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. Colleagues said that Yadav had been murdered at the behest of two powerful landowners who were angered by his exposés of

local corruption. (CPJ)

In Pakistan authorities rejected visas for Indian journalist or Indian-born journalists wishing to cover the Afghani conflict. Two correspondents of American dailies were expelled from the country for this reason.

The most detailed report on the state of press freedom throughout the world comes from Reporters Sans Frontieres. We carry it below.

January 2nd, 2002

SHARP DETERIORATION IN PRESS FREEDOM IN THE WORLD IN 2001