An interpreter and reporter in the Baghdad bureau of the New York Times was shot and killed Friday, the bureau chief, John F Burns, reported. Khalid W Hassan, 23, was the second Iraqi employee of the Times to be killed during the current conflict.
Hassan was shot in the Seiydia district of south central Baghdad while driving to work under circumstances that remain unclear, Burns said. He had called the bureau earlier and said his normal route to the office had been blocked by a security checkpoint.
“I’m trying to find another way,” he told the bureau staff. About a half an hour he called his mother, with whom he lived, telling her, “I’ve been shot.” His family later called the bureau to report that he had been killed, the Times reported.
Fakher Haider, 38, a Times stringer in the city of Basra, was killed in similarly mysterious circumstances on September 19, 2005.
Bill Keller, New York Times Executive Editor, said in a statement, “Khalid was part of a large, sometimes unsung, community of Iraqi newsgatherers, translators and support staff, who take enormous risks every day to help us comprehend their country’s struggle and torment.
“Without them, Americans’ understanding of what is happening on the ground in Iraq would be much, much poorer. To The Times, Khalid was family, and his death is heartbreaking.”
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon said, "We are deeply saddened by the death of Khalid Hassan and send our heartfelt condolences to his family, colleagues, and friends. His death is even more difficult to bear, coming as it does on the heels of the loss of two of our colleagues from Reuters, who were killed yesterday by US forces' fire in Baghdad.
"There is no safe way to report on the streets of Baghdad. The fact that Khalid Hassan was shot on his way to work is a reminder that even the simplest, most routine functions of daily life can be deadly in an environment of rampant violence."
Hassan was one of the longest-serving local members of the bureau, having joined in the fall of 2003. He was of Palestinian descent; his family had fled to Iraq after the conflict with Israel in 1948. He lived with his mother and four sisters, all under the age of 18, the Times report said.
Burns described Hassan as “a resourceful and brave member of our news team, who met the many professional and personal challenges of his four years on our staff with enduring good humor and optimism.” He was to be buried later today in a cemetery in northeast Baghdad and a memorial service was scheduled in the bureau.
Simon said, "Khalid Hassan's killing, together with the deaths on Thursday of Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and assistant Saeed Chmagh, is a reminder of the crucial newsgathering role that Iraqi journalists have assumed in the conflict. Iraqi journalists are eyes and ears for the world; they have shown extraordinary courage and commitment in revealing the reality of life in Iraq. Too often they have paid with their lives: Nearly 85 per cent of the journalists and media support workers killed in the conflict have been Iraqis."
Over 100 journalists, most of them Iraqis, have been killed since the 2003 invasion, the Committee to Protect Journalists has reported. The total prior to Hassan’s death was 109, including 87 Iraqi citizens and two Americans, according to the group’s Web site this morning.
