Death of a journalist
Death of a journalist
His name was Serdest Osman. He was 23 years old. He was a freelance young Kurdish journalist and a student at the university of Salahaddin in Hewler (Erbil). He was to have graduated from the university in June with a degree in English. But his life was cut short on May 6th. Serdest was kidnapped on May 4th in the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. He was tortured and then dumped, two bullets in the head, on a highway in the city of Mosul, some fifty miles west of Hewler.
The family and friends of young Serdest say that he was killed because of his often irreverent articles about the region's two governing parties, the KDP (Kurdish Democratic Party) and the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), and its leaders, Masud Barzani and Jalal Talabani.
According to Kurdistanpost.com, an independent Sweden-based Kurdish website for which Mr Osman was writing using the pseudonym of Saro, states that the young journalist was kidnapped by a group of armed men shortly after been dropped off by his brother in front of the university main door. The journalist was found dead in the city of Mosul, a few days later.
Kurdistanpost writes in one of his reports about the killing of Mr Osman that he "recently wrote an article about one of the PUK high ranking members who is also the deputy of Jalal Talabani, the general secretary of PUK and president of Iraq". An article that did not go down well with the authorities.
The family of Serdest received a call on Wednesday informing them that Mr. Osman’s body had been dumped in front of the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in the city of Mosul.
It has been pointed out that the university is in the heart of a tightly secured city. How was it possible, ask the family of Serdest, to kidnap and take out of Hewler someone, without being noticed? You have to pass numerous checkpoints, including one maintained by American soldiers, say the family.
A brother of the young journalist, Beshdar Osman, said that Serdest received a threatening phone call in January, telling him to leave Hewler. “The reason was his writing,” he said.
Renas Salam, a friend, said Mr. Osman received another threat in April from a caller saying that he had “one week to leave Erbil or he would be killed.”
As well as writing for Kurdistanpost, Mr Osman was writing for an Erbil-based magazine called Samal Post and contributed several articles to Hawlati, an independent newspaper based in the region’s other main city, Sulaimaniya.
The Kurdistan Syndicate of Journalists underlines that the last killing of an Iraqi Kurdish journalist was in 2008, in the Kurdish-controlled area of the city of Kirkuk.
Since then Kurdish journalists have continued to be harassed, threatened and physically assaulted by security forces. There were 357 such violations last year, according to the Kurdistan Syndicate of Journalists.
On Thursday 6 May, 75 Kurdish journalists, intellectuals and editors issued a statement which said among other things that “this work is beyond the capability of one person or one small group. We believe - the statement added - the Kurdistan regional government and its security forces are responsible first and foremost and they are supposed to do everything in order to find this evil hand.”
The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Mesud Barzani, has said that a commission will be established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the abduction and death of Mr Osman.
The family and friends of young Serdest say that he was killed because of his often irreverent articles about the region's two governing parties, the KDP (Kurdish Democratic Party) and the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), and its leaders, Masud Barzani and Jalal Talabani.
According to Kurdistanpost.com, an independent Sweden-based Kurdish website for which Mr Osman was writing using the pseudonym of Saro, states that the young journalist was kidnapped by a group of armed men shortly after been dropped off by his brother in front of the university main door. The journalist was found dead in the city of Mosul, a few days later.
Kurdistanpost writes in one of his reports about the killing of Mr Osman that he "recently wrote an article about one of the PUK high ranking members who is also the deputy of Jalal Talabani, the general secretary of PUK and president of Iraq". An article that did not go down well with the authorities.
The family of Serdest received a call on Wednesday informing them that Mr. Osman’s body had been dumped in front of the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in the city of Mosul.
It has been pointed out that the university is in the heart of a tightly secured city. How was it possible, ask the family of Serdest, to kidnap and take out of Hewler someone, without being noticed? You have to pass numerous checkpoints, including one maintained by American soldiers, say the family.
A brother of the young journalist, Beshdar Osman, said that Serdest received a threatening phone call in January, telling him to leave Hewler. “The reason was his writing,” he said.
Renas Salam, a friend, said Mr. Osman received another threat in April from a caller saying that he had “one week to leave Erbil or he would be killed.”
As well as writing for Kurdistanpost, Mr Osman was writing for an Erbil-based magazine called Samal Post and contributed several articles to Hawlati, an independent newspaper based in the region’s other main city, Sulaimaniya.
The Kurdistan Syndicate of Journalists underlines that the last killing of an Iraqi Kurdish journalist was in 2008, in the Kurdish-controlled area of the city of Kirkuk.
Since then Kurdish journalists have continued to be harassed, threatened and physically assaulted by security forces. There were 357 such violations last year, according to the Kurdistan Syndicate of Journalists.
On Thursday 6 May, 75 Kurdish journalists, intellectuals and editors issued a statement which said among other things that “this work is beyond the capability of one person or one small group. We believe - the statement added - the Kurdistan regional government and its security forces are responsible first and foremost and they are supposed to do everything in order to find this evil hand.”
The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Mesud Barzani, has said that a commission will be established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the abduction and death of Mr Osman.
