CPJ condemns attack on photographer

A protection group for journalists has condemned an attack on an Associated Press (AP) reporter and photographer in the town of Khaldiya, 50 miles west of Baghdad. No one was injured in the attack, which took place on 18 September, but the photographer's car was badly damaged. Karim Kadhim and his driver Qassim al-Saidi were traveling to Baghdad when they heard about an attack on US forces at Khaldiya in western Iraq, where the Iraqi police chief was assassinated a few days earlier, according to a statement issued by Human Rights Watch on Thursday. "We are very troubled by the incident and raised serious concerns about the rules of engagement for troops in Iraq and what precautions they are taking to protect journalists and civilians," Joel Campagne, of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) told IRIN from New York on Thursday. "When they arrived, they saw a US tank blocking the road. In the front window of their car was a white laminated sign with black letters, three feet long, that read: "PRESS." At that moment, they heard an explosion, which they believed to be an rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on the US troops. According to the driver, Qassim al-Saidi, a US tank then trained its machine gun on his car, the HRW statement said. An eye witness account from the driver was also printed in the statement. "When we arrived, we saw the tank and stopped. We heard another RPG at that moment, and that is when they shot with a machine gun from the tank. We turned around quickly, opened the doors, and jumped out. All the bullets hit the car and some went through the seats. The Americans were very nervous and frightened. They are very confused and suspicious of everything," he told HRW. Campagne said the CPJ had raised this incident with the concerned authorities but had not yet received a response. AP sent a letter of protest to US military authorities in Baghdad, asking for an investigation. The shootings were unwarranted and put journalists in grave danger, the AP said. HRW also sent out a strong condemnation of the incident. "As attacks against them continue, US soldiers are sometimes resorting to deadly force in a reckless and indiscriminate way," said Joe Stork, acting executive director of HRW's (HRW) Middle East and North Africa Division. "This puts all civilians, not just journalists, at grave risk." The watchdog group was also informed that an Iraqi working as a news assistant for the New York Times was mistreated by US forces. Ghaith 'Abd al-Ahad told HRW that US soldiers threw him to the ground, and handcuffed and verbally abused him. According to 'Abd al-Ahad, he was driving on Highway 1, 20 miles north of Baghdad, around 1 September, when he came upon a US military checkpoint. An explosion had just killed one US soldier and injured another, and 'Abd al-Ahad saw a helicopter evacuating the wounded. Two US soldiers pushed him roughly to the ground, even though he showed his press card and said he worked for the New York Times. He was soon let go. As he stood 50 meters away watching the scene, the same two soldiers approached him, threw him to the ground again, handcuffed him, and put a bag over his head. "One of the soldiers had his knee on my neck," 'Abd al-Ahad said. "When I said I work for the New York Times he said, 'Oh, so you speak English,' and he pushed his knee down harder." These incidents follow the death of a Reuters television cameraman, Mazen Dana, outside the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. According to the military, they mistook his camera for a RPG. "US military authorities told Human Rights Watch on 23 September that they investigated that incident and concluded that the soldiers had acted within the rules of engagement," the HRW statement said. Dana was the 12th journalist killed in action in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March, according to the New York-based CPJ. Five of these deaths were from US fire. "We wrote a letter to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging a public investigation into the death of the Reuters cameraman and were dismayed to see the results merely stating that troops had acted with accordance of engagement," Campagne said. Most cases have involved non-western journalists, who Campagne said should be praised for their reporting. "When journalists are impeded from doing their jobs we all suffer with the inability to get the news on the ground in a country such as Iraq. They serve a very important role on providing information to the masses which can make informed decision from the news," he added.