Barbaric murder of journalists demand international action

Tuesday evening came the tragedy that another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, had allegedly been executed by the Islamic State (IS). Following the horrific murder of Mr. Sotloff, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, the President of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has made an immediate appeal for an international investigation into the murder of the two journalists and demanded to bring the killers to justice.

Two weeks ago it was the American journalist James Foley who, after a long period of captivity, was subjected to a similar brutal execution, which was filmed by the Islamic State captors.

Tuesday it was the turn of another American freelance journalist, Mr. Sotloff, who was allegedly executed and filmed in the border region between Iraq and Syria. This is the second time that IS has inflicted such barbaric violence on journalists and use them in the struggle to gain international attention to fight the war.

Blicher Bjerregård, who is also the President of the Danish Union of Journalists, was appalled that yet another journalist has gone through such brutality.  

“It's absolutely horrifying that the IS uses killings of media workers to promote their struggle. It is unjust that journalists who are covering the conflict in order to tell the truth become targets, and have to pay the highest price for the conflict,” said Blicher Bjerregård.

“The international community must stand together and take firm actions to find, apprehend and prosecute those who launch such attacks on the free press.”