Almost all Media Personnel in Iraq, especially of foreign media, seem to be soft targets of the grotesque violence spreading in the war torn country.
In a recent incident, an Iraqi translator associated with CBS News has been reportedly murdered five days after he was kidnapped from his home in Baghdad.
The victim’s name is Anwar Abbas Lafta. Eight to ten men carrying weapons, some of them wearing body armors, abducted him on the 20th of August, according to reports. Assailants had also beaten up his brother and shot his sister in the arm. The family received two phone calls ordering for a payoff later on. Following this, his family informed the police on the 25th of August that his body has been found in the Sadr City.
Abbas had worked for the CBS for an approximate period of ten months. According to the CBS, Abbas was unmarried and in his early 50s. He had done the job of a translator for the U.S. military in Iraq for around three years before he joined CBS News.
Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports regretted the loss intensely, mentioning that this was not the first unfortunate incident involving a member of the CBS family, but he hoped it to be the last one.
The CBS seems to brush off the fact that the abduction and death of Abbas has a link to his being associated to the CBS. There was no precursor of the fact that Abbas’ association with the CBS was connected to his abduction, a CBS spokesperson said.
However, the connection appears to be obvious. The extremists in Iraq are picking out media employees for sure, but they are basically trying to uproot the influence of Western media on Iraq, and the concepts of free speech and liberty that it brings to Iraq. As a result, an Iraqi working with a foreign media organization would be an evident target.
The situation in Iraq regarding these murders is worsening constantly. At least 112 journalists and 40 media support personnel have been slaughtered in Iraq since beginning of the war in March 2003, not including the murder of Abbas.
Above all, proper measures to stop such incidents are yet to be taken up in Iraq, and very unlikely to be taken up in the near future too. If Iraq is being casual about such happenings, what are the international media organizations contemplating? Are those of them speaking relentlessly of freedom of speech and media liberty aware of what is going on in Iraq? If they are, do they feel that these incidents are too average to be worth a serious thought?
Image Credit: CBS News
Via: MSNBC
